FLOODING - THE SURVIVAL STRATEGIES OF PLANTS

Floodplains and wetlands are highly suitable for plant ecological stud ies, whether for agricultural interests, nature conservation or basic science. traditional work has entailed a descriptive approach at the c ommunity or individual plant level. Nowadays these studies are evolvin g into physiological research on relationships between flooding stress and vegetation zonation. Current experiments aim to unravel the adapt ive mechanisms whereby terrestrial plants cope with the peculiar condi tions of the floodplain, from the whole plant down to the cell.