Drought Adaptation Mechanisms Should Guide Experimental Design

Matthew E Gilbert; Viviana Medina

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2016.03.003

Drought Adaptation Mechanisms Should Guide Experimental Design

Trends Plant Sci. 2016 Aug;21(8):639-647. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2016.03.003. Epub 2016 Apr 15.

Authors

Matthew E Gilbert¹, Viviana Medina²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: megilbert@ucdavis.edu.
² Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

PMID: 27090148
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2016.03.003

Abstract

The mechanism, or hypothesis, of how a plant might be adapted to drought should strongly influence experimental design. For instance, an experiment testing for water conservation should be distinct from a damage-tolerance evaluation. We define here four new, general mechanisms for plant adaptation to drought such that experiments can be more easily designed based upon the definitions. A series of experimental methods are suggested together with appropriate physiological measurements related to the drought adaptation mechanisms. The suggestion is made that the experimental manipulation should match the rate, length, and severity of soil water deficit (SWD) necessary to test the hypothesized type of drought adaptation mechanism.

Keywords: damage; drought; resistance; stress avoidance; tolerance.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Physiological
Droughts*
Plant Physiological Phenomena*
Research Design*