How exactly do plants regulate their uptake and release of water during drought stress?
How exactly do plants regulate their uptake and release of water during drought stress? This is what the new research unit SOPHY, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), is investigating. Professor Christiane Werner, Professor of Ecosystem Physiology at the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, and her colleague Dr Simon Haberstroh are involved. In this interview Werner talks about how through SOPHY researchers can study the interaction and adaptation of plants during drought phases.
Professor Werner, you study the reactions of plants and entire ecosystems to climate change. What exactly is your new research unit investigating?
At the SOPHY Research Unit we want to improve our understanding of how the entire system of water regulation functions across every level – starting with the soil structure, through water uptake into the roots and transportation into the plant via its water transport system, the xylem, right up to regulation in the leaves and the release of water into the atmosphere. In Freiburg we are looking at the interaction between plants in particular, that is, the question of how plant communities use water – competitively or collaboratively.
Read More: University of Freiburg
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