The Stress Concept in Plants: An Introduction

Abstract

The current concept of stress in plants has been well developed over the past 60 years. Any unfavorable condition or substance that affects or blocks a plant's metabolism, growth, or development is regarded as stress. Vegetation stress can be induced by various natural and anthropogenic stress factors. One has to differentiate between short-term and long-term stress effects as well as between low-stress events that can be partially compensated for by acclimation, adaptation, and repair mechanisms, on the one hand, and strong stress or chronic stress events causing considerable damage that may eventually lead to cell and plant death, on the other hand. Some essential stress syndrome responses of plants are summarized in a unifying stress concept. The major abiotic, biotic, and anthropogenic stressors are listed. Some stress tolerance mechanisms are mentioned. Stress conditions and stress-induced damage in plants have so far been detected using the classical ecophysiological field methods as well as point data measurements of particular chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and of reflectance spectra. The novel laser-induced high-resolution fluorescence imaging technique, which integrates chlorophyll and blue-green fluorescence, marks a new standard in the detection of stress in plants.

Response of endophytic bacterial communities in banana tissue culture plantlets to Fusarium wilt pathogen infection

“…The positive regulation of phytopathogen on associated endophyte population is also pointed at by several researchers (Hallmann et al, 1998;Reiter et al, 2002). In that case, pathogens in plants would induce a cascade of reactions leading to the synthesis of stress metabolites, including H 2 O 2 , phytoalexins, and stress signals such as abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid (Lichtenthaler, 1998); all of these would make changes in endophyte structure. Thus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.…”

Exploring Growth Variability and Crown Vitality of Sessile Oak (Quercus Petraea) in the Czech Republic

“…However, repeated replacement of damaged shoots and branches is a very demanding process for trees that occurs at the expense of radial growth (Fig. 5) and results in a higher risk of tree adaptation capacity depletion and permanent damage or death (Lichtenthaler, 2006). The high rate of assimilatory tissue replacement supports the presence of a long-term stressor that lasted longer than the feeding of Tortrix viridiana larvae in 2011 and 2012.…”

Advances in physiological and molecular aspects of plant cold tolerance

“…Lichtenthaler (2006) defined stress as any substance or condition which stops a plant's metabolism, development or growth. Stress was also defined by Mahmood (2002) as any element that decreases plant reproduction and development below the genotype's potential.…”