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Responses to Drought and Flooding 02:41

10.7K

Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.

Under normal conditions, water taken up by the plant evaporates from leaves and other parts in a process called transpiration. In times of drought stress, water that evaporates by transpiration far exceeds the water absorbed from the soil, causing plants to wilt. The general plant response to drought stress is the synthesis of hormone...

The Roles of Bacteria and Fungi in Plant Nutrition 02:11

35.3K

Plants have the impressive ability to create their own food through photosynthesis. However, plants often require assistance from organisms in the soil to acquire the nutrients they need to function correctly. Both bacteria and fungi have evolved symbiotic relationships with plants that help the species to thrive in a wide variety of environments.

The collective bacteria residing in and around plant roots are termed the rhizosphere. These soil-dwelling bacterial species are incredibly diverse....

Responses to Salt Stress 02:02

13.1K

Salt stress—which can be triggered by high salt concentrations in a plant’s environment—can significantly affect plant growth and crop production by influencing photosynthesis and the absorption of water and nutrients.

Plant cell cytoplasm has a high solute concentration, which causes water to flow from the soil into the plant due to osmosis. However, excess salt in the surrounding soil increases the soil solute concentration, reducing the plant’s ability to take up...

Key Elements for Plant Nutrition 02:35

18.7K

Like all living organisms, plants require organic and inorganic nutrients to survive, reproduce, grow and maintain homeostasis. To identify nutrients that are essential for plant functioning, researchers have leveraged a technique called hydroponics. In hydroponic culture systems, plants are grown—without soil—in water-based solutions containing nutrients. At least 17 nutrients have been identified as essential elements required by plants. Plants acquire these elements from the...

Responses to Heat and Cold Stress 02:45

13.5K

Every organism has an optimum temperature range within which healthy growth and physiological functioning can occur. At the ends of this range, there will be a minimum and maximum temperature that interrupt biological processes.

When the environmental dynamics fall out of the optimal limit for a given species, changes in metabolism and functioning occur – and this is defined as stress. Plants respond to stress by initiating changes in gene expression - leading to adjustments in plant...

Overview of Metabolism 01:40

30.0K

Living cells constantly carry out various chemical reactions which are necessary for their proper functioning. These reactions are interlinked to one another via multiple pathways. The collection of these chemical reactions is known as metabolism.
Plant Metabolism
Sunlight, the primary source of energy in plants, is first absorbed by the chlorophyll pigments present in their leaves. Plants then use this energy to carry out photosynthesis, where water is oxidized into oxygen and carbon dioxide...