In the 800s, Mayan cities in southeastern Mexico and Central America were abandoned - just as drought hit the region. But a botanical study shows that the connection between drought and depopulation was not simple.
Gypsum soils are dry and can be found in arid environments. Chemistry shows that a surprising variety of plants survive in them by getting water locked in crystals.
Drought and rising temperatures can cause massive forest diebacks around the world. When a tree is experiencing drought, “shedding off” the leaves can enhance tree water status by reducing canopy transpiration. Whilst...
New study the journal New Phytologist reveals the importance of soil microbial diversity for tolerating or recovering from drought, warming and nitrogen deposition.
Secondary growth of the roots of annual dicots has functional significance with regards to soil resource acquisition and transport, interactions with soil organisms and carbon sequestration.
Advances in computational models may allow us to quickly predict responses of important food crops to environmental stresses in the field, and to identify the genetic basis of these.
Trait sensitivity to the environment is most visible during earlier stages of development, after which intraspecific trait variation and relationships may stabilize.
How do plants react when circumstances change? One method can be to evolve a local adaptation. Another can be be phenotypic plasticity, changing the shape of the plant to tackle a local problem. Silvia Matesanz and...