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Abiotic Stress Responses in Woody Plants: Morphological, Physiological, and Anatomical Features
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This review summarizes how various environmental stresses including flood, drought, temperature extremes, salt, heavy metals, and microplastics affect the growth and internal structure of trees and woody plants. The section on microplastics is one of several stress factors covered, noting that microplastics can disrupt plant water transport and root development. While primarily a plant biology review, the inclusion of microplastics as a recognized abiotic stressor for trees reflects growing awareness that plastic pollution affects terrestrial ecosystems and the plants within them.
Abiotic stressors may have intricate and varied impacts on the growth and development of forest trees. This article provides a comprehensive summary of the effects of abiotic stressors, such as flood, drought, severe temperature, salt, heavy metal, combination stresses, and microplastics, on the morphological, physiological, and anatomical features of woody plants. The focus is particularly on evaluating these effects from the viewpoint of the xylem. During abiotic stress, the ability of xylem to transport water declines, which is linked to the control of leaf stomata and the suppression of aquaporin (AQP) function. Concurrently, woody plants maintain control over the dimensions and structure of their roots and leaves in order to achieve a harmonious equilibrium between water intake and evaporation. The anatomical characteristics are modified as well, including increased density of leaf stomata, smaller conduits, and thicker cell walls. Furthermore, various types of stressors elicit distinct responses in plants. For instance, flooding leads to the development of adventitious roots and aeration tissues, while forest fires cause irreparable damage to the xylem. Low temperatures result in tissue freezing, salt stress hinders ion absorption, and exposure to heavy metals induces biological toxicity. Woody plants' growth may be periodically enhanced in conditions of drought, floods, and exposure to heavy metals. The impact of combined stress on the physiological, morphological, and anatomical characteristics of woody plants is not only cumulative. The underlying mechanism behind this phenomenon requires additional investigation, particularly in natural or near-natural environments.
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Responses of Physiological, Morphological and Anatomical Traits to Abiotic Stress in Woody Plants
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This review examines how trees and woody plants respond to environmental stresses including drought, flooding, extreme temperatures, heavy metals, and microplastics. Microplastics in soil can disrupt water transport and nutrient uptake in trees, potentially affecting forest health and the broader ecosystem. The effects of combined stresses, such as microplastics plus drought, are not simply additive and need further study.
Perspective Chapter: Plant Abiotic Stress Factors – Current Challenges of Last Decades and Future Threats
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This review examines major abiotic stress factors affecting plants — including drought, waterlogging, extreme temperatures, heavy metals, and pollutants — with a focus on molecular-level effects and emerging threats from microplastics, nanoplastics, and nanoparticles. The authors evaluate current understanding of plant stress responses and highlight micro- and nanoplastics as novel stressors introduced by rapid industrialisation that plants have not encountered through evolutionary history.
Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology
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This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics act as a form of abiotic stress on plants, disrupting photosynthesis, triggering oxidative stress, and damaging proteins in crop species. Researchers found that these tiny plastic particles spread through farmlands, forests, and waterways worldwide and can enter the food chain once absorbed by plants. The study highlights the growing threat that plastic pollution poses to both agricultural productivity and environmental biodiversity.
Microplastic stress in plants: effects on plant growth and their remediations
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This review examines how microplastic contamination in soil affects plant growth through multiple pathways, including blocking water and nutrient absorption through roots, triggering harmful levels of reactive oxygen species, and disrupting hormone regulation. The effects vary depending on the type, size, and amount of microplastic present. Since plants are the foundation of our food supply, understanding how microplastics impair crop health is directly relevant to food safety and human nutrition.
Beyond Climate: A Cambium-Centred Synthesis of Anthropogenic Drivers of Wood Formation in Urban Trees
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This review paper looks at how city life—things like pollution, road salt, artificial light at night, and even microplastics in the soil—affects how trees grow their wood, not just weather and climate. Understanding this matters because urban trees under constant stress may become weaker or less resilient over time, which affects their ability to cool our neighborhoods, clean the air we breathe, and support the leafy green spaces linked to better mental and physical health. While the microplastics angle is still an emerging area with limited direct evidence, it's a signal that pollution's reach into the natural systems we rely on may be broader than we realized.
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