MODERN BOTANY - P. RAVEN - 1990

Editor's Preface to the Translation

Over the past few decades, plant science has made tremendous strides and continues to evolve rapidly. In all developed countries, the number of botanists has grown significantly, and numerous new botanical institutions have emerged. A vast body of literature has materialized, with new botanical journals—including international ones—constantly being launched, while reference books, textbooks, and popular science publications multiply at a fast pace. American botanical literature is particularly rich in textbooks. There is a wide array of excellent books that provide a state-of-the-art Introduction to the fundamentals of botany. One of the finest works of this kind is authored by three American writers and titled "Biology of Plants"; the Russian Translation offered here is named "Modern Botany". This work has gone through four editions, which in itself speaks volumes about its success. The principal author, Peter Raven, is one of America's leading botanists. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, serving as its Home Secretary, as well as the Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The primary strength of "Modern Botany" lies in its exceptionally high scientific and didactic standard. The book is characterized by the crystal-clear exposition typical of American educational literature. It is exquisitely illustrated. For readers wishing to expand and deepen their knowledge, a list of References is provided at the end of each chapter. Since these lists consist exclusively of English-language publications, the essential recent Soviet works on botany are listed below. Although "Modern Botany" is by no means light reading, it is fully accessible to anyone with a secondary education.

For the reader's convenience, Appendices are included at the end of the book, one of which offers a Brief Overview of organismal Classification. As is now universally recognized, the entire organic world is divided into PROKARYOTES AND EUKARYOTES. According to the classification adopted by the authors, prokaryotes comprise only a single kingdom—Monera. It should be noted, however, that other classifications of prokaryotes exist. Today, the superkingdom of prokaryotes is generally subdivided into two kingdoms: Bacteria (including cyanobacteria) and archaebacteria (see, for example, the Biological Encyclopedic Dictionary, Moscow: Sov. Entsiklopediya, 1986). The Classification of the eukaryotic superkingdom is considerably more complex.

Here, no fewer than three separate kingdoms are recognized: animals, Fungi, and plants. However, lower fungi (oomycetes, chytridiomycetes, slime Molds), lower plants (eukaryotic Algae), and lower animals (Protozoa) are grouped in many modern systems into an independent kingdom of protists. This kingdom is also recognized in the book by Raven and co-authors. The establishment of a separate kingdom of protists has one indisputable advantage: it makes the classification of fungi, and especially animals and plants, much more natural. Unfortunately, the protist kingdom itself is an exceptionally heterogeneous group and most likely consists of several distinct kingdoms, a view supported by data from ultrastructural Morphology and molecular biology. Several schemes for dividing protists into kingdoms have been proposed, but they vary widely both in the number of kingdoms recognized (sometimes up to 13) and in their scope. A comprehensively substantiated evolutionary classification of protists has not yet been established, making it necessary to temporarily accept this heterogeneous kingdom in a broad sense—a compromise the authors of "Modern Botany" were compelled to make.

In Raven and co-authors' book, the plant kingdom includes only higher plants (bryophytes and vascular plants). However, far from all botanists agree with this approach. Based on numerous ultrastructural and biochemical features, higher plants are very closely related to green algae, particularly Charales. Therefore, the prominent ultrastructural morphologist and evolutionist Cavalier-Smith (1981) groups Higher Plants and green algae into the subkingdom Viridiplantae, which, together with his subkingdom Biliphyta (red algae), constitutes the plant kingdom (Plantae). These two Examples demonstrate how controversial the very BOUNDARIES OF THE plant world are—boundaries that the authors of "Modern Botany" were forced to treat in a narrow sense, perhaps even overly so.

I am confident that this translated edition of "Modern Botany" by the three American authors will make a highly valuable contribution to our botanical literature. It will be read with great interest and benefit not only by students but also by specialists—not just botanists, but anyone interested in modern biology. Undoubtedly, it will help elevate the standard of botany instruction.

Class="right">A. Takhtajan