Preface to the
Second Edition
The objectives of the first edition of "An Introduction to Environmental
Biophysics" were "to describe the physical microenvironment in which
living organisms reside" and "to present a simplified discussion of heat
and mass transfer models and apply them to exchange processes between
organisms and their surroundings." These remain the objectives of this
edition. This book is used as a text in courses taught at Washington State
University and University of Wisconsin and the new edition incorporates
knowledge gained through teaching this subject over the past 20 years.
Suggestions of colleagues and students have been incorporated, and all of
the material has been revised to reflect changes and trends in the science.
Those familiar with the first edition will note that the order of presentation is changed somewhat. We now start by describing the physical
environment of living organisms (temperature, moisture, wind) and then
consider the physics of heat and mass transport between organisms and
their surroundings. Radiative transport is treated later in this edition, and
is covered in two chapters, rather than one, as in the first edition. Since
remote sensing is playing an increasingly important role in environmental biophysics, we have included material on this important topic as well.
As with the first edition, the h a 1 chapters are applications of previously
described principles to animal and plant systems.
Many of the students who take our courses come from the biological sciences where mathematical skills are often less developed than
in physics and engineering. Our approach, which starts with more descriptive topics, and progresses to topics that are more mathematically
demanding, appears to meet the needs of students with this type of background. Since we expect students to develop the mathematical skills
necessary to solve problems in mass and energy exchange, we have added
many example problems, and have also provided additional problems for
students to work at the end of chapters.
One convention the reader will encounter early in the book, which is
a significant departure from the first edition, is the use of molar units for
mass concentrations, conductances, and fluxes. We have chosen this unit
convention for several reasons. We believe molar units to be fundamental, so equations are simpler with fewer coefficients when molar units
Second Edition
The objectives of the first edition of "An Introduction to Environmental
Biophysics" were "to describe the physical microenvironment in which
living organisms reside" and "to present a simplified discussion of heat
and mass transfer models and apply them to exchange processes between
organisms and their surroundings." These remain the objectives of this
edition. This book is used as a text in courses taught at Washington State
University and University of Wisconsin and the new edition incorporates
knowledge gained through teaching this subject over the past 20 years.
Suggestions of colleagues and students have been incorporated, and all of
the material has been revised to reflect changes and trends in the science.
Those familiar with the first edition will note that the order of presentation is changed somewhat. We now start by describing the physical
environment of living organisms (temperature, moisture, wind) and then
consider the physics of heat and mass transport between organisms and
their surroundings. Radiative transport is treated later in this edition, and
is covered in two chapters, rather than one, as in the first edition. Since
remote sensing is playing an increasingly important role in environmental biophysics, we have included material on this important topic as well.
As with the first edition, the h a 1 chapters are applications of previously
described principles to animal and plant systems.
Many of the students who take our courses come from the biological sciences where mathematical skills are often less developed than
in physics and engineering. Our approach, which starts with more descriptive topics, and progresses to topics that are more mathematically
demanding, appears to meet the needs of students with this type of background. Since we expect students to develop the mathematical skills
necessary to solve problems in mass and energy exchange, we have added
many example problems, and have also provided additional problems for
students to work at the end of chapters.
One convention the reader will encounter early in the book, which is
a significant departure from the first edition, is the use of molar units for
mass concentrations, conductances, and fluxes. We have chosen this unit
convention for several reasons. We believe molar units to be fundamental, so equations are simpler with fewer coefficients when molar units