Aquatic Photosynthesis is a comprehensive guide to understanding the
evolution and ecology of photosynthesis in aquatic environments. This
second edition, thoroughly revised to bring it up to date, describes how
one of the most fundamental metabolic processes evolved and transformed
the surface chemistry of the Earth. The book focuses on recent
biochemical and biophysical advances and the molecular biological
techniques that have made them possible.
In ten chapters that are self-contained but that build upon information
presented earlier, the book starts with a reductionist, biophysical
description of the photosynthetic reactions. It then moves through
biochemical and molecular biological patterns in aquatic
photoautotrophs, physiological and ecological principles, and global
biogeochemical cycles. The book considers applications to ecology, and
refers to historical developments. It can be used as a primary text in a
lecture course, or as a supplemental text in a survey course such as
biological oceanography, limnology, or biogeochemistry.