: 10.62796/pijst
Plant Responses to Climate Change: Adaptation and Survival Mechanisms
Dr. M. Boateng,
College of Science and Agriculture, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
Published Date: 07-01-2025 Issue: Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025): January 2025 Published Paper PDF: Download
Abstract- Climate change has emerged as one of the most pressing global challenges, profoundly influencing plant survival, growth, and distribution. Rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and elevated CO levels have triggered significant physiological, morphological, phenological, and genetic adaptations in plants. Physiologically, plants regulate photosynthesis, respiration, and water-use efficiency to maintain carbon assimilation under stress. Morphological responses such as root system modifications and leaf structural adjustments enhance resilience to drought, heat, and nutrient imbalances. Phenological changes, including shifts in flowering and seasonal growth patterns, reflect plants’ high plasticity, allowing them to optimize life cycle events under variable conditions. At the genetic level, natural selection, genetic diversity, and epigenetic mechanisms underpin evolutionary responses to long-term climatic stress. Ecosystem-level impacts include altered species distribution, community dynamics, biodiversity loss, and disrupted ecosystem services. Elevated CO initially promotes photosynthesis but often reduces nutrient quality, while heat and cold stress prompt tolerance mechanisms such as thermomorphogenesis and cold acclimation. Additionally, plant-soil-microbe interactions adapt through altered root exudation and microbiome restructuring. Increased pest and pathogen pressures further complicate plant survival. Conservation strategies, including seed banking, restoration ecology, and sustainable agriculture, provide vital avenues for safeguarding biodiversity. Understanding these adaptive mechanisms is crucial for ensuring plant resilience, ecosystem stability, and global food security under rapidly changing climates.
Published Date: 07-01-2025 Issue: Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025): January 2025 Published Paper PDF: Download
Abstract- Climate change has emerged as one of the most pressing global challenges, profoundly influencing plant survival, growth, and distribution. Rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and elevated CO levels have triggered significant physiological, morphological, phenological, and genetic adaptations in plants. Physiologically, plants regulate photosynthesis, respiration, and water-use efficiency to maintain carbon assimilation under stress. Morphological responses such as root system modifications and leaf structural adjustments enhance resilience to drought, heat, and nutrient imbalances. Phenological changes, including shifts in flowering and seasonal growth patterns, reflect plants’ high plasticity, allowing them to optimize life cycle events under variable conditions. At the genetic level, natural selection, genetic diversity, and epigenetic mechanisms underpin evolutionary responses to long-term climatic stress. Ecosystem-level impacts include altered species distribution, community dynamics, biodiversity loss, and disrupted ecosystem services. Elevated CO initially promotes photosynthesis but often reduces nutrient quality, while heat and cold stress prompt tolerance mechanisms such as thermomorphogenesis and cold acclimation. Additionally, plant-soil-microbe interactions adapt through altered root exudation and microbiome restructuring. Increased pest and pathogen pressures further complicate plant survival. Conservation strategies, including seed banking, restoration ecology, and sustainable agriculture, provide vital avenues for safeguarding biodiversity. Understanding these adaptive mechanisms is crucial for ensuring plant resilience, ecosystem stability, and global food security under rapidly changing climates.
