Photosynthesis and the complex network within plants is becoming more important than ever, because of the earth’s changing climate. In addition, the concepts can be used in other areas, and the science itself is useful in practical applications in many branches of science, including medicine, biology, biophysics, and chemistry. This original, groundbreaking work by two highly experienced and well-known scientists introduces a new and different approach to thinking about living organisms, what we can learn from them, and how we can use the concepts within their scientific makeup in practice.

This book describes the principles of complex signaling networks enabling spatiotemporally-directed macroscopic processes by the coupling of systems leading to a bottom-up information transfer in photosynthetic organisms. Top-down messengers triggered by macroscopic actuators like sunlight, gravity, environment or stress lead to an activation of the gene regulation on the molecular level. Mainly the generation and monitoring, as well the role of reactive oxygen species in photosynthetic organisms as typical messengers in complex networks, are described. A theoretical approach according to the principle of synergetics is presented to model light absorption, electron transfer and membrane dynamics in plants. A special focus will be attended to nonlinear processes that form the basic principle for the accumulation of energy reservoirs and large forces enabling the dynamics of macroscopic devices.

This volume is a must-have for any scientist, student, or engineer working with photosynthesis. The concepts herein are not available anywhere else, in any other format, and it is truly a groundbreaking work with sure to be long-lasting effects on the scientific community.