How Do Plants Deal with Dry Days?

Plants regularly face dry conditions. Not having enough water poses a serious threat to a plant’s ability to grow and develop or even just survive! If plants die, we will not have enough food to eat! How do plants manage to survive during water shortages? They must somehow be able to sense, respond, and adapt to changes in water availability. They do this through a range of techniques that allow for a plant to combat water shortages. A plant’s structural “armor” helps it to decrease the amount of water it loses to the environment and increase water storage. Plants respond to water shortages in very complex ways. These responses can include changes in the plants’ growth and in their ability to protect themselves against toxic chemicals that accumulate in the plant during dry periods. All of a plant’s responses are directly controlled by the plant’s genes. If we can understand the genes that are involved in protecting plants against drought, in the future we might be able to make genetically modified crops that can tolerate global warming and climate changes.