Plant Stress and Acclimation Responses During Global Warming

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant, Algae and Fungi Cell Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2026 | Viewed by 1523

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Department of Plant Genetics Breeding and Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 159 Nowoursynowska, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: cell death; hormonal and reactive oxygen species signaling; retrograde signaling and regulation of photosynthesis; systemic stress and defence responses; transcription factors and gene expression; nonphotochemical quenching; plant physiology and molecular biology
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Dear Colleagues,

Terrestrial plants contribute to the Earth’s carbon and energy balance, being responsible for about 20% of global photosynthesis and thus for significant CO2 assimilation, cooling the atmosphere via transpiration and evaporation. However, as global warming progresses, plants are more exposed to environmental stresses such as excessive light, high temperatures, drought, and water depravation, all of which affect critical physiological and molecular processes such as photosynthesis, transpiration, and absorbed energy dissipation as heat. Therefore, better understanding of the mechanisms that control plant responses to absorbed energy in excess (AEE), particularly non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), inhibition of photosynthetic electron transport, photorespiration, and foliar thermoregulation, together with heat shock responses and cell death regulation, is crucial as these processes determine the balance between photosynthesis and photoinhibition, deciding whether leaves can less or more efficiently cool down during heat waves. Current climate models fail to account for the conditional variability in foliar heat emission caused by these conditional physiological responses, leaving considerable gaps in the prediction of ecosystem behavior and climate dynamics.

We welcome all manuscripts furthering the understanding of the above mechanisms of these complex AEE, heat, and water deprivation stress responses.

Prof. Dr. Stanisław Karpiński
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • acclimatory responses in plants
  • chloroplast retrograde and nuclear anterograde signaling
  • excess light and heat shock responses
  • global warming and regulation of gene expression
  • energy dissipation as heat and cell death regulation
  • photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and transpiration regulation during heat waves

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

22 pages, 932 KB  
Review
Absorption of Energy in Excess, Photoinhibition, Transpiration, and Foliar Heat Emission Feedback Loops During Global Warming
by Roshanak Zarrin Ghalami, Maria Duszyn and Stanisław Karpiński
Cells 2026, 15(1), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells15010075 - 1 Jan 2026
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1191
Abstract
Global warming is increasingly constraining plant productivity by altering the photosynthetic energy balance and leaf thermoregulation. Under high light and elevated temperatures, absorption of energy in excess (AEE) by photosystem II disrupts photosynthetic electron transport, oxygen evolution, and CO2 assimilation, often accompanied [...] Read more.
Global warming is increasingly constraining plant productivity by altering the photosynthetic energy balance and leaf thermoregulation. Under high light and elevated temperatures, absorption of energy in excess (AEE) by photosystem II disrupts photosynthetic electron transport, oxygen evolution, and CO2 assimilation, often accompanied by reduced foliar transpiration. These conditions promote photoinhibition, as reflected by a decrease in maximal photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm), an increase in non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), and photooxidative stress associated with enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. In addition to environmental heat stress, AEE influences foliar temperature through internal energy partitioning, including regulated dissipation of AEE as heat and changes in transpirational cooling. The relative contributions of NPQ, photochemistry, and transpiration to leaf temperature regulation are strongly context dependent and vary with light intensity, temperature changes, and water availability. Under global warming, rising background temperatures and increased vapor pressure deficit may constrain transpirational cooling and alter the balance between non-photochemical and photochemical energy dissipation and usage, respectively. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge on AEE handling, photoinhibition, NPQ and other quenching processes, and on transpiration cooling, and discuss a conceptual framework in which sustained imbalance among these processes under global warming conditions could amplify foliar heat stress and increase the risk of cellular damage. Rather than proposing new physiological mechanisms, this work integrates existing evidence across molecular, leaf, and ecosystem scales to highlight potential feedbacks relevant to plant performance under future climate prediction scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Stress and Acclimation Responses During Global Warming)
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