This book provides a comprehensive overview of the multiple strategies that plants have developed to cope with drought, one of the most severe environmental stresses. Experts in the field present 17 chapters, each of which focuses on a basic concept as well as the latest findings. The following major aspects are covered in the book: Morphological and anatomical adaptations, Physiological responses, Biochemical and molecular responses, Ecophysiological responses, Responses to drought under field conditions .
The contributions will serve as an invaluable source of information for researchers and advanced students in the fields of plant sciences, agriculture, ecophysiology, biochemistry and molecular biology.
Chapter 1. Drought Stress in Plants: An Overview
I. Morphological and Anatomical Response
Chapter 2. Functional significance of morpho-anatomical traits in adaptive strategies against drought
Chapter 3. Xylem cavitation and embolism in plants living in water-limited ecosystems
II. Physiological Response
Chapter 4. Regulation of root water uptake under drought stress conditions
Chapter 5. The response of photosynthesis to soil water stress
Chapter 6. Water use strategies of plants under drought conditions
Chapter 7. Drought effects on nutrient uptake and assimilation in vegetable crops
III. Biochemical and Molecular Response
Chapter 8. Osmotic adjustment under drought conditions
Chapter 9. Antioxidant defenses against drought
Chapter 10. Understanding and exploiting plant hormone biology to enhance crop production under water scarcity
Chapter 11. Genome-wide transcriptional re-programming under drought stres
IV. Ecophysiological Response
Chapter 12. Drought response in forest tree species: from the species to the gene
Chapter 13. Contribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis to plant drought tolerance. State of the art
Chapter 14. Future environmental constraints of drought and elevated CO2 will limit yield in N2 fixing alfalfa
Chapter 15. Promotion of plant drought tolerance by microbes
V. Field Response
Chapter 16. Physiology of the yield under drought: lessons from studies with lupin
Chapter 17. Drought in deciduous fruit trees: implications for yield and fruit quality