Catastrophe theory can shed new light on how drought affects plants

Sometimes things are okay until they are not. A boat overturns. A bridge is collapsing. The stock market takes a turn.

Catastrophe theory is a tool in mathematics that can be used to describe a set of variables that combine, at a specific point, to completely change a system. A University of Georgia scientist wants to use the framework to better understand how plants use water and respond to a dry spell.

Dan Johnson, an associate professor at the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, made the case in a new invited review in the journal Plant, Cell and Environment that instead of thinking about plant responses to water stress as a long, slow decline in plant health, we should think

Johnson wanted to take it in a quantitative direction and provide a new framework for plant hydraulics.

Water movement in plants is mostly focused on structure and function these days. The xylem is a system of tubes that move water from the roots to the branches. How the xylem works or how it is affected by the weather are the topics of research.

What if researchers investigated the point where a plant is going to die, instead of focusing on structural failures?

Johnson and two colleagues at Duke University developed a way to use mathematical theory to analyze tipping points in plants. The Theodore S. Coile Professor of Hydrology and Micrometeorology and Domec are both professors at Duke.

They created a framework that would allow them to see how changes in a system affect the larger organisms. When the temperature changes, how do respiration and growth variables change?

Johnson had an idea that there were tipping points. The proof that what he was seeing was more than just a series of coincidences was provided by the mathematical framework.

The paper will be published in print later this year. Johnson hopes that it will be a jumping-off point for new work in the field.

For months, the team worked out the details in meetings.

It was a lot of work, but it was also fun because we were learning from each other. It was an enormous amount of work.

More information: Daniel M. Johnson et al, Catastrophic Hydraulic Failure and Tipping Points in Plants, Plant, Cell & Environment (2022). DOI: 10.1111/pce.14327 Citation: Catastrophe theory can shed new light on how drought affects plants (2022, May 3) retrieved 3 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-catastrophe-theory-drought-affects.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.