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If the water supply is not enough despite the employment of other water-saving strategies, the leaves will start to collapse and wilt due to water evaporation still exceeding water supply. Leaf loss will be activated in more severe stress conditions. Drought deciduous plants may drop their leaves in times of dryness.
A common example is the curling of Rhododendron leaves in response to cold temperatures. Mimosa pudica also show thermotropism by the collapsing of leaf petioles leading to the folding of leaflets, when temperature drops. [1] The term "thermotropism" was originated by French botanist Philippe Van Tieghem in his 1884 textbook Traité de ...
Drought deciduous species, depending on the region it is situated, would undergo abscission not necessarily due to cold weather, they may undergo this process due to shortage of water which may be limited due to relatively low rainfall and summers with a relatively higher temperature or unexpected prolonged season.
If temperatures are cool enough and water levels are adequate the leaves expand again (right). During a growing season, a leaf will transpire many times more water than its own weight. An acre of corn gives off about 3,000–4,000 gallons (11,400–15,100 liters) of water each day, and a large oak tree can transpire 40,000 gallons (151,000 ...
Since CAM is an adaptation to arid conditions, plants using CAM often display other xerophytic characters, such as thick, reduced leaves with a low surface-area-to-volume ratio; thick cuticle; and stomata sunken into pits. Some shed their leaves during the dry season; others (the succulents [13]) store water in vacuoles. CAM also causes taste ...
In addition to improving insects' survival during cold temperatures, cold hardening also improves the organism's performance. [9] Rapid cold hardening (RCH), one of the fastest cold temperature responses recorded, [9] allows an insect to quickly adapt to severe weather change without compromising function.
Evergreens suffer greater water loss during the winter and they also can experience greater predation pressure, especially when small. Deciduous trees experience much less branch and trunk breakage from glaze ice storms when leafless, and plants can reduce water loss due to the reduction in availability of liquid water during cold winter days. [16]
Wilting also serves to reduce water loss, as it makes the leaves expose less surface area. [1] The rate of loss of water from the plant is greater than the absorption of water in the plant. The process of wilting modifies the leaf angle distribution of the plant (or canopy) towards more erectophile conditions. Lower water availability may ...