Structural and Biochemical Aspects of Cold Hardiness in Woody Plants

Abstract

Woody plants in temperate climates are exposed to several types of freezing stress including low-temperature extremes, ice encasement, and unseasonal episodes of frost. In response to seasonal changes in growing conditions, plants have evolved the ability to cold acclimate as well as undergo a period of dormancy. Although the primary emphasis of this book is on the molecular biology of woody plants, it is evident that plant structure and biochemical adaptations both play an important role in cold hardiness (Wisniewski and Fuller 1999). In this regard, it is important to keep in mind that cold hardiness in woody plants is a complex trait with several contributing factors. It is also a dynamic process that changes with time. That is to say, the factors that define the level of cold hardiness in mid-winter may be completely different than those that confer cold hardiness in late winter or early spring. This is further complicated by the discovery that in some woody species, different tissues (eg. bark vs. xylem and buds) within the same plant respond very differently when exposed to freezing temperatures (Sakai and Larcher 1987, Wisniewski and Arora 1993). In order to develop logical approaches to alleviating the adverse effect of freezing temperatures on woody plants, a basic understanding of the mechanisms that confer cold hardiness is essential.KeywordsWoody PlantCold AcclimationFreezing ToleranceCold HardinessAntifreeze ProteinThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.