This useful summary of plant and crop responses and impacts on soil and plant water relations to elevated carbon dioxide levels is a timely and valuable contribution to the debate on atmospheric and climate change. It presents research on field-grown wheat, sorghum and rangeland plants performed over a seven-year period at Kansas State University. The opening chapters cover a useful reminder of different types of photosynthesis and water relations in the soil and the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum.
The main body of the book is soil-focused, which look at soil–atmosphere relations and then moves onto plant responses in terms of stomatal density, resistance and evapotranspiration. The area of carbon isotope research in root studies is well covered. The potted biographies of key researchers in each chapter provide an intriguing human insight. The effect of elevated CO2 in narrowing the gap between C3 and C4 crops is an important area covered and has global implications for both food and biofuel crop production. The careful targeted use of figures is a feature of the work and will be most useful to all readers.
The book clearly demonstrates the positive effects on crop and rangeland plants of elevated carbon dioxide, producing not just increased yields but improved efficiency of water use with increase in carbon dioxide. This will be an important positive effect in a world short of both food and water resources. This book is a timely, balanced and authoritative contribution to the field of crop science.
