Drought Adaptation Mechanisms Should Guide Experimental Design

The mechanism, or hypothesis, of how a plant might be adapted to drought should strongly influence experimental design. For instance, an experiment testing for water conservation should be distinct from a damage-tolerance evaluation. We define here four new, general mechanisms for plant adaptation to drought such that experiments can be more easily designed based upon the definitions. A series of experimental methods are suggested together with appropriate physiological measurements related to the drought adaptation mechanisms. The suggestion is made that the experimental manipulation should match the rate, length, and severity of soil water deficit (SWD) necessary to test the hypothesized type of drought adaptation mechanism.