Photoprotective Strategies of Mediterranean Plants in Relation to Morphological Traits and Natural Environmental Pressure: A Meta-Analytical Approach.

ABSTRACT: Despite being a small geographic extension, Mediterranean Basin is characterized by an exceptional plant biodiversity. Adaptive responses of this biocoenosis are delineated by an unusual temporal dissociation along the year between optimal temperature for growth and water availability. This fact generates the combination of two environmental stress factors: a period of summer drought, variable in length and intensity, and the occurrence of mild to cold winters. Both abiotic factors, trigger the generation of (photo)oxidative stress and plants orchestrate an arsenal of structural, physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms to withstand such environmental injuries. In the last two decades an important effort has been made to characterize the adaptive morphological and ecophysiologi

SUBMITTER: Fernandez-Marin B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5474485 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature