Drought limits crop productivity and threatens global food security, with moderate drought
stress—when crops grow at a reduced rate—commonly experienced. Increasing plant …

In the context of a recent massive increase in research on plant root functions and their
impact on the environment, root ecologists currently face many important challenges to keep …

Plants are exposed to increasingly severe drought events and roots play vital roles in
maintaining plant survival, growth, and reproduction. A large body of literature has …

Background Suboptimal water and nutrient availability are primary constraints in global
agriculture. Root anatomy plays key roles in soil resource acquisition. In this article we …

Agriculture is expanding into regions that are affected by salinity. This review considers the
energetic costs of salinity tolerance in crop plants and provides a framework for a …

The soil volume affected by roots–the rhizosphere–is one of the most important microbial
hotspots determining the processes, dynamics and cycling of carbon (C), nutrients and water …

Drought tolerance involves mechanisms operating at different spatial and temporal scales,
from rapid stomatal closure to maintenance of crop yield. We review how short-term …

The current trend towards linking stomata regulation to plant hydraulics emphasizes the role
of xylem vulnerability. Using a soil–plant hydraulic model, we show that xylem vulnerability …

Plant water uptake from the soil is a crucial element of the global hydrological cycle and
essential for vegetation drought resilience. Yet, knowledge of how the distribution of water …

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have been presumed to ameliorate crop tolerance to
drought. Here, we review the role of AMF in maintaining water supply to plants from drying …