Impact of temperature fluctuations on plant morphological and physiological traits

Impact of climate change on plant morphology, physiology, survival, and adaptation is becoming a global concern nowadays. Temperature fluctuations have detrimental effects on many plant morphological and physiological traits. Plant response to warming or chilling temperatures is considered as an important understanding for the agricultural ecosystems. Continuous increase in the global average temperature has significant impacts on the productivity of agricultural crops. Plant growth and development could be affected due to high and low temperature events under changing climate, topography, and land-sea thermal differences. Temperature fluctuations increase the forward and reverse biochemical reactions exponentially resulting in the denaturation of enzymes. Beyond optimal limit, depending on the duration and intensity of temperature, reversible or irreversible changes may lead to plant death. Resilience of plants can be predicted through investigating morphological, biochemical, and physiological analysis under different conditions. Plants evolve resilient mechanisms to survive under uncertain temperature stress by limiting the adverse impacts on the metabolic and physiological processes. Knowledge enhancement towards better understanding of various plant processes is needed to cope with detrimental impacts of temperature. This chapter is aimed to illustrate and understand the key plant morphological and physiological traits in response to temperature stress for better management of plants under changing climate.