#water-use efficiency

As the world faces the unprecedented challenges of climate change, scientists are searching for ways to help forests adapt to the new normal. A recent study by Compton and colleagues, published in AoB PLANTS, sheds light on how hybrid Douglas-fir trees could be more resilient to climate change and better suited for reforestation efforts. Douglas-fir trees are a crucial species for timber…

Antarctic endophytes improve drought tolerance in lettuce plants

Antarctic root-endophytes were collected from plants such as Colobanthus quitensis, seen here growing on the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Photo credit: Marco Molina Montenegro. Climate change has limited the availability of water for irrigating crops throughout many regions of the world. Indeed, current models of climate change predict that arid and semi-arid zones will be places where…