Heat
Heat stress has been shown to cause problems in mitochondrial functions and can result in oxidative damage. Activators of heat stress receptors and defenses are thought to be related to ROS. Heat is another thing that plants can deal with if they have the proper pretreatment. This means that if the temperature gradually warms up the plants are going to be better able to cope with the change. A sudden long temperature increase could cause damage to the plant because their cells and receptors haven’t had enough time to prepare for a major temperature change.
Heat stress can also have a detrimental effect on plant reproduction. Temperatures 10 degrees Celsius or more above normal growing temperatures can have a bad effect on several plant reproductive functions. Pollen meiosis, pollen germination, ovule development, ovule viability, development of the embryo, and seedling growth are all aspects of plant reproduction that are affected by heat. There have been many studies on the effects of heat on plant reproduction. One study on plants was conducted on Canola plants at 28 degrees Celsius, the result was decreased plant size, but the plants were still fertile. Another experiment was conducted on Canola plants at 32 degrees Celsius, this resulted in the production of sterile plants. Plants seem to be more easily damaged by extreme temperatures during the late flower to early seed development stage (Cross, McKay, McHughen, & Bonham-Smith, 2003).
Read more about this topic: Natural Stress
Famous quotes containing the word heat:
“Why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole? Why does man drive himself to suffer the steam and heat of the Amazon? Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky? Once the question mark has arisen in the human brain the answer must be found, if it takes a hundred years. A thousand years.”
—Walter Reisch (1903–1963)
“Friendship is evanescent in every man’s experience, and remembered like heat lightning in past summers.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Beware thoughts that come in the night. They aren’t turned properly; they come in askew, free of sense and restriction, deriving from the most remote of sources.”
—William Least Heat Moon [William Trogdon] (b. 1939)