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Aerosols have always been part of the atmosphere, and plant surfaces are a major aerosol sink. Given the nutrient content of aerosols and the natural stability of aerosol concentrations over evolutionary time, plants may have developed adaptations to aerosol input. Although little is known about such adaptations, leaf surface micro‐roughness appears to play a key role. This review focuses on the deposition and fate of fine aerosols that are less than 2.5 μm in diameter. Most of these aerosols are hygroscopic, and they are often deliquescent (liquid) on transpiring leaves. Such concentrated solutions may be taken up by both the cuticle and stomata, contradicting previous concepts. The establishment of a continuous liquid water connection along stomatal walls affects individual stomata and is a new concept called “hydraulic activation of stomata” (HAS). HAS enables the efficient bidirectional transport of water and solutes between the leaf interior and leaf surface and makes stomatal transpiration partly independent of stomatal aperture. The response of plants to changes in humidity can be explained by the split transpiration in an HAS pore and its interaction with neighboring stomata, i.e., as an emergent property of a stomatal patch. Normally, HAS affects only a few stomata, but if too many are activated by excessive particle accumulation or additional surfactants, hygroscopic particles may work as “desiccants,” reducing the drought tolerance of plants. This is made use of when hygroscopic salts and acids are sprayed to kill potato vine, but may cause problems in foliar fertilization. Excessive particle accumulation may also be caused by air pollution. It is hypothesized that deliquescent hygroscopic particles, due to their amorphous appearance, may have been misinterpreted as “degraded waxes.” Degraded waxes have been highly correlated to leaf loss, decreased drought tolerance, and decreased frost tolerance of trees. No sound explanation for degraded waxes has been found, and they have been interpreted as symptoms of forest decline. Because hygroscopic particles may affect the drought tolerance of trees, they could be drivers of regional tree die‐off and especially affect those trees that have adapted to capture aerosols. Several research questions are identified.

SummaryThe recent visualization of stomatal nanoparticle uptake ended a 40-yr-old paradigm. Assuming clean, hydrophobic leaf surfaces, the paradigm considered stomatal liquid water transport to be impossible as a result of water surface tension. However, real leaves are not clean, and deposited aerosols may change hydrophobicity and water surface tension.Droplets containing NaCl, NaClO 3 , (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , glyphosate, an organosilicone surfactant or various combinations thereof were evaporated on stomatous abaxial and astomatous adaxial surfaces of apple (Malus domestica) leaves. The effects on photosynthesis, necrosis and biomass were determined. Observed using an environmental scanning electron microscope, NaCl and NaClO 3 crystals on hydrophobic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) cuticles underwent several humidity cycles, causing repeated deliquescence and efflorescence of the salts.All physiological parameters were more strongly affected by abaxial than adaxial treatments. Spatial expansion and dendritic crystallization of the salts occurred and cuticular hydrophobicity was decreased more rapidly by NaClO 3 than NaCl.The results confirmed the stomatal uptake of aqueous solutions. Humidity fluctuations promote the spatial expansion of salts into the stomata. The ion-specific effects point to the Hofmeister series: chaotropic ions reduce surface tension, probably contributing to the defoliant action of NaClO 3 , whereas the salt spray tolerance of coastal plants is probably linked to the kosmotropic nature of chloride ions.

SummarySince a key requirement of known life forms is available water (water activity; a w), recent searches for signatures of past life in terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments have targeted places known to have contained significant quantities of biologically available water. However, early life on Earth inhabited high-salt environments, suggesting an ability to withstand low water-activity. The lower limit of water activity that enables cell division appears to be ∼ 0.605 which, until now, was only known to be exhibited by a single eukaryote, the sugar-tolerant, fungal xerophile Xeromyces bisporus. The first forms of life on Earth were, though, prokaryotic. Recent evidence now indicates that some halophilic Archaea and Bacteria have water-activity limits more or less equal to those of X. bisporus. We discuss water activity in relation to the limits of Earth's present-day biosphere; the possibility of microbial multiplication by utilizing water from thin, aqueous films or non-liquid sources; whether prokaryotes were the first organisms able to multiply close to the 0.605-a w limit; and whether extraterrestrial aqueous milieux of ≥ 0.605 aw can resemble fertile microbial habitats found on Earth.