PubMed · 2026-04-20
A comprehensive review synthesizes how plants respond to drought across every scale—from hormonal signals in individual cells to productivity across entire ecosystems—and reveals that the recovery phase after rainfall returns is critically understudied, even as climate change makes droughts more frequent and severe worldwide.
Abscisic acid (ABA) acts as the master coordinator of plant drought responses, simultaneously triggering stomatal closure to cut water loss, driving osmotic adjustments inside cells, and switching on stress-response genes.
Post-drought recovery is critically understudied relative to drought stress itself, yet recovery dynamics are essential for long-term plant performance and ecosystem resilience under increasing climate variability.
Soil microbial communities act as key mediators of plant-soil feedbacks, helping sustain ecosystem function during and after drought, while precipitation variability shapes vegetation productivity partly through its effects on biodiversity.