Impact of Different Stresses on Morphology, Physiology, and Biochemistry of Plants

Plants are imperiled by extensive environmental stresses such as salinity, drought, flooding, extreme temperature (heat), and heavy metals that cause alterations in the morphological, physiological, and biological activities in plants. Numerous elements that help retention, protect chloroplast functions, maintain ion homeostasis, synthesize metabolites particularly proteins, produce specific ions and regulate water flow, free radical enzymes, and have the capacity to support oxygen radical scavenging which make plants able to withstand stress. Different abiotic stresses that plants encounter have an impact on their activities. Such pressures also have a significant negative impact on photosynthesis, the most fundamental and complex physiological function in all green plants, throughout all of its phases. Any level of damage brought on by stress may lower a plant's overall ability to photosynthesize. Increased transpiration due to a high temperature causes water stress in plant cells. Similarly, the osmotic potential of plant root cells is affected by high salt conditions in the root zone. Root respiration rates are reduced by waterlogging conditions, which also produce methane, a major greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Plants have established a lot of physiological and cellular adaptations in their life mechanisms, to counteract the impact of abiotic stress. This chapter discusses the effects of abiotic stresses on plants and the potential for selecting plants with high stress tolerance based on changes in their morphological, physiological, and biochemical features.