Flowers open their stomata to keep its organ cool under heat and water deficit stress combination

What is it about?

Heat waves occurring during drought spells can cause devastating losses to agricultural production estimated at billions of dollars each year. Global warming and climate change are driving an alarming increase in the frequency and intensity of drought and heat wave combination events, highlighting the need to develop crops with enhanced tolerance to these conditions. We reveal that plants use a differential transpiration strategy to cool their flowers during a combination of drought and heat stress, opening their flower stomata, while keeping their leaf stomata closed. Protecting flower inner temperature through enhanced transpiration could serve as a viable strategy to enhance the yield of different crops and reduce some of the current and future impacts of global warming and climate change on agriculture.

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