Differential Thermal Analysis: A Fast Alternative to Frost Tolerance Measurements

Frost tolerance is an important factor influencing plant growth, plant species distribution and competitive balance among plant species in the face of climate change. Traditional methods for estimating frost tolerance are often time consuming and require a large sample size, limiting the temporal and spatial resolutions. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) can be advantageous compared to other methods used to determine frost tolerance, most importantly by (1) increasing the number of tested species, tissue types and sampling dates, (2) allowing to test frost tolerance in situ, and (3) more realistically testing the influence of freezing rate and duration. Here, we discuss a typical procedure for DTA, compare its use to other frost tolerance methods and point out its limitations.