Drought tolerance

Drought tolerance is a plant’s ability to survive or maintain function when water is scarce. It arises through traits that limit water loss, improve water acquisition, or protect tissues from dehydration.

Stomatal regulation: Control of stomatal opening and closing, which regulates gas exchange and water loss from leaves. Closing stomata reduces transpiration, though it also restricts carbon dioxide uptake.
Drought stress: A condition in which water availability is insufficient to meet an organism’s needs. It is the environmental challenge against which drought tolerance is assessed.
Drought escape: A strategy in which plants complete reproduction before seasonal drought becomes severe. It avoids the harshest drought period rather than tolerating dehydration through it.
Drought resistance: The capacity of an organism or system to withstand drought with limited loss of performance. The term can encompass avoidance and escape as well as tissue-level tolerance.
Abscisic acid: A plant hormone involved in stress responses, seed development, and the regulation of stomatal closure. Drought-induced abscisic acid signaling helps close stomata and alter stress-response gene activity.
Water potential: A measure of the potential energy of water that predicts its direction of movement. Water potential links soil dryness to water uptake and plant tissue hydration.
Drought avoidance: A strategy that maintains plant water status during drought by limiting water loss or improving water uptake. It preserves hydration, distinguishing it from tolerance of low tissue water content.
Drought recovery: The restoration of growth or function after a period of drought stress ends. Recovery after rewatering is distinct from maintaining function while water remains scarce.
Osmotic adjustment: The accumulation of solutes that lowers cell water potential and helps cells retain water. Solute accumulation can help drought-stressed cells maintain turgor and function.
Transpiration: The loss of water vapor from a plant, primarily through leaf stomata. It is a major route of water loss that drought-adaptive traits can regulate.

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