Plant responses to heat stress | Desert Botanical Garden

OPEN DAILY 8 A.M.|7 A.M. FOR MEMBERS WED. & SUN.

Water loss in plants has commonly been considered only as a cost of photosynthetic carbon gain. However, plants may use water in ways that may not necessarily optimize instantaneous carbon gain, but instead as a strategy for leaf evaporative cooling. The DPEL and collaborators aim to assess whether plant water use is not always a side-effect of carbon gain, but rather an active strategy to optimize leaf temperature to cope with thermal stress that is becoming more common with climate change.

Selected recent publications:

Aparecido LMT, Woo S, Suazo C, Hultine KR, Blonder B. (2020) High water use in desert plants exposed to extreme heat. Ecology Letters, 23(8): 1189-1200

Collaborating institutions:

University of California Berkeley, University of British Columbia, Smithsonian Tropical Institute 

ADVANCE TICKET RESERVATIONS ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR MEMBERS AND GENERAL PUBLIC
March-April Reservations are strongly recommended for Gertrude's Restaurant
Orchid Fever will be closed  April 17 4-8 p.m. and will reopen at 10 a.m. on April 18. 
The Garden, Gertrude’s & Garden Shop will close at noon  with last admission at 10:30am on  April 26.