Light and Photosynthesis in Aquatic Ecosystems

John Kirk began his research into ocean optics in the early 1970s in the Division of Plant Industry of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Canberra, Australia, where he was a Chief Research Scientist, and continued it from 1997 in Kirk Marine Optics. He was awarded the Australian Society for Limnology Medal (1981), and besides the two successful previous editions of this book, has also co-authored The Plastids: Their Chemistry, Structure, Growth and Inheritance (Elsevier, 1978), which became the standard text in its field. Beyond his own scientific research interests, he has always been interested in the broader implications of science for human existence, and has published a book on this and other issues, Science and Certainty (CSIRO Publishing, 2007).

Preface to the third edition; Part I. The Underwater Light Field: 1. Concepts of hydrologic optics; 2. Incident solar radiation; 3. Absorption of light within the aquatic medium; 4. Scattering of light within the aquatic medium; 5. Characterizing the underwater light field; 6. The nature of the underwater light field; 7. Remote sensing of the aquatic environment; Part II. Photosynthesis in the Aquatic Environment: 8. The photosynthetic apparatus of aquatic plants; 9. Light capture by aquatic plants; 10. Photosynthesis as a function of the incident light; 11. Photosynthesis in the aquatic environment; 12. Ecological strategies; References and author index; Index to symbols; Index to organisms; Index to water bodies; Subject index.