Photosynth Res DOI 10.1007/s11120-007-9188-7 REVIEW Photosynthesis and the Web: 2008 Larry Orr Æ Govindjee Received: 25 April 2007 / Accepted: 25 April 2007 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007 Abstract The World Wide Web has become an impor- Introduction tant resource for public awareness and for educating the world’s population, including its political leaders, students, The World Wide Web (WWW) has become a very researchers, teachers, and ordinary citizens seeking infor- important resource for public awareness and for educating mation. Relevant information on photosynthesis-related the world’s population, including its political leaders, stu- web sites is grouped into several categories: (1) group sites, dents, researchers, teachers, and ordinary citizens seeking (2) sites by subject, (3) individual researcher’s sites, (4) information. In 1999, we wrote a short survey of the var- sites for educators and students, and (5) other useful sites. ious photosynthesis sites found on the web (Orr and Gov- indjee 1999). Although many fine sites were found and Keywords Internet Á K-12 education Á World Wide Web discussed, the number of sites was rather limited due to the inexperience of scientists with hypertext markup language Abbreviations (HTML), lack of reliable web server hardware, constantly ASU Arizona State University changing web addresses, and difficulty in using the search HTML Hyper Text Markup Language engines available at the time. Within a few years the web ISPR International Society of Photosynthesis Research had grown exponentially, many more sites had appeared NCSA National Center for Supercomputing and were much easier to find as web search engines ma- Applications tured. In fact, in a later review (Orr and Govindjee 2001), PDF portable document format we found there were too many sites to list all of them. We UIUC University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign decided to highlight only a sample of those sites that we URL Universal Resource Locator felt presented good, quality information in an interesting WWW World Wide Web manner. We follow the same criteria here. This review presents relevant information on photo- synthesis-related web sites grouped into several categories: (1) group sites, (2) sites by subject, (3) individual re- searcher’s sites, (4) sites for educators and students, and (5) other useful sites. Due to time and length restrictions, as L. Orr well as the dynamic nature of the Web, it is impossible to Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis, Department of include every worthy web site in this review. Thus, we will Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, P.O. Box highlight a few of the sites that we think epitomize the best 871604, Tempe, AZ 85287-1604, USA e-mail: [email protected] the Web has to offer. Sites chosen for discussion will usually have a significant amount of information on one or Govindjee (&) more photosynthesis research areas and may include Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana- illustrations, movies, and links to other sites of importance. Champaign, 265 Morrill Hall, MC-116, 505 South Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL 61801-3707, USA Our sincere apologies to anyone whose site we have e-mail: [email protected] overlooked. (If the reader is aware of any good sites that 123 Photosynth Res are not mentioned in this article, we ([email protected] and scientific and public policy levels. In recognition of this [email protected]) would like to be informed so we can in- evolution, the Center has changed its name to the ASU clude it in our web-based version of this review.) Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis, though it will In this review we provide links to many websites and still be known to us as the Photosynthesis Center. An web pages and to a few portable document format (PDF) artistic representation of the promise of bioenergy from documents. For the most part, we are concerned primarily photosynthesis is shown in Fig. 1. with sites that can be easily accessed directly from a The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign browser. PDF files generally have to be downloaded to a (UIUC), home of the National Center for Supercomputing local computer and then opened in a secondary program, Applications (NCSA) and Mosaic (and therefore the depending on the browser used and the manner in which ‘‘mother’’ of all modern web browsers), hosts several the computer is set up, which makes them somewhat important sites. A site by one of us (G) (http://www.li- inconvenient. Many of the sites we have listed will have fe.uiuc.edu/govindjee/), is much more than an individual links to PDF files, often to journal papers that can be ac- site as it includes information on a variety of topics, cessed by schools that subscribe to the electronic journals including course web pages, a major tutorial/essay on ‘‘The online, but which are not necessarily available to the Photosynthetic Process’’ (by J. Whitmarsh and Govindjee), general public. We have decided that most of those PDF movies, photos and several items of historical importance documents are outside the scope of this review, though we including PDF files of Personal Perspectives of some have included some which contain information not found eminent scientists, as well as some obituaries, and brief elsewhere and which do not require special subscriptions. comments on Robert Emerson, Eugene Rabinowitch, The contents of this review also appear in a companion William Arnold, Lou Duysens, and Stacy French. There is website which may be found at http://photo- also a tutorial on ‘‘Photosynthesis and Time’’ and other science.la.asu.edu/photosyn/photoweb/default.html and teaching materials such as slides which can be used in the mirrored at http://www.life.uiuc.edu/govindjee/photoweb/. classroom. A significant new addition is the availability of the complete references of all the chapters in Volumes 1– 25 of Govindjee’s Series ‘Advances in Photosynthesis and Group sites One of the largest group sites, the Arizona State University (ASU) Photosynthesis Center site, went online in 1995. It was developed and is currently maintained by one of us (LO) and can be accessed at http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/ photosyn/. This award-winning site is very comprehensive and showcases not only the operations and work of the Center, but also provides original material and numerous annotated links to individual and group photosynthesis research sites of interest to researchers, educators, students, and the general public. One of its most popular items is the educational section that contains links to sites of interest to students and educators and has been annotated as to subject matter and appropriate age-level of understanding (http:// photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/education/learn.html). Another popular item is the Nicelist, a list of photosyn- thesis researchers who don’t mind receiving and answering emails (hence they are ‘‘nice’’) and includes their email addresses and, in most cases, their web site URLs (http:// photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/nicelist.html). Some of the Center’s other web pages will be mentioned in the other sections. Recently, the Center expanded its areas of interest to include bioenergy research into alternative fuels derived from photosynthetic bacterial biomass, the production of Fig. 1 Artist’s representation of the power of green—the transfer of hydrogen from photosynthetic-influenced model systems, solar energy through photosynthesis to provide bioenergy for all living things. From the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis, and participation with other ASU initiatives to study http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/. Artwork by Michael Hagel- climate change and energy sustainability issues at the burg, Arizona State University, used by permission 123 Photosynth Res Respiration’ (Springer) (http://www.life.uiuc.edu/govindjee/ Acad. M. Popov Institute of Plant Physiology, Dept. of Reference-Index.htm). UIUC is also the home of the Photosynthesis, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (http:// wonderful and highly educational site of A. R. Crofts www.bio21.bas.bg/ipp/photosynth/photosynth.html)is (http://www.life.uiuc.edu/crofts/ahab/index.html). The Pho- conducting research on biophysical, biochemical, and tosynthesis Research Unit (http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/ ecological aspects of photosynthesis and photorespiration docs.htm?docid=3333), affiliated with the United States in higher plants. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research The Institute of Basic Biological Problems, Dept. of Service, covers many areas of photosynthesis crop research. Photobiology, Russian Academy of Sciences [formerly the The Theoretical Biophysics Group at UIUC is also present Institute of Soil Science and Photosynthesis] (http:// with an excellent site (http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/) with many www.ibbp.psn.ru/engl/index.php?option=com_con- important pages including ‘‘Quantum Biology of the Photo- tent&task=blogcategory&id=71&Itemid=80) conducts re- synthesis Unit’’ (http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/psu/psu. search in several important areas. The connection to this html), animations of various structures (http://www.ks.uiuc. site is often very slow, so be patient. edu/Overview/movie_gallery/),andmuchmore. The Biology group of John Allen at Queen Mary Lon- don, UK (http://jfa.bio.qmul.ac.uk/~john/webstar/index.html) contains much useful information and links as well as inter- esting pages on ‘‘Light, Time and Micro-Organisms’’ (http:// Sites by subject jfa.bio.qmul.ac.uk/~john/webstar/ltm/default.html), imaging chlorophyll fluorescence, and much more. Broad overview sites Uppsala University, located in Sweden, is the home of the Photosynthesis Group (http://www.fotomol.uu.se/ There are several sites devoted to the entire photosynthetic Forskning/Biomimetics/fotosyntes/index.shtm), led by process. Although they may cover the same subject, the Stenbjo¨rn Styring, which studies Photosystem II and arti- articles are written for a variety of audiences.