Dedication.-Preface.-The Editors.-List of Contributors.-Author Index.-Color plates.-1. Abiotic Tolerance and Crop Improvement.-I.Stress Perception and Signal Transduction:2.Sensors and Signal Transducers of Environmental Stress in Cyanobacteria.-3.Stress Signaling I:The Role of Abscisic Acid.-4.Stress Signaling II: Calcium Sensing and Signaling.-5.Stress Signaling III: Reactive Oxygen Species.-6.A Biotic or Abiotic Stress?.-7. Protein Kinases and Phosphatases for Stress Signal Transduction in Plants.-8.Chemical Root to Shoot Signaling via the Xylem under Drought.-II.Stress Regulation of Gene Expression:9.Abiotic Stress Responses: Complexities of Gene Expression.-10.Promoters and Transcription Factors in Abiotic Stress-responsive Gene Expression.-11.Epigenetic Regulation: microRNA Chromatin Modeling.-III. Physiology and Metabolism:12.Ion Homeostasis.-13.Glutathione Homeostasis: Crucial.-14.Water Balance and the Regulation of Stomatal Movements.-15.Responses to Macronutrient Deprivation.-16. Osmolyte Regulation.-17.Programmed Cell Death in Plant.-IV.Overcoming Stress:18. Breeding Efforts.-19. Transgenic Approaches.-20.Marker Assisted Breeding.-21.Stress, Mutators, Mutations and Stress Resistance.-22.Systems Biology of Abiotic Stress: the Elephant and the Blind Men.-23.Global Change, Stress and Plant Productivity.-Index.