Tropical Trees Resilient to Drought





When people think of tropical trees, they often remember water. So what happens if a tropical tree suffers from a drought? Well, recent studies show that tropical trees have a unique method to fight back against drought. 

Trees, in general, transport water and nutrients from the ground through their roots, then through their xylem–the scientific name for wood. If there is less water, then the tree has to "suck" harder which could lead to the point where they suck air bubbles. The bad thing about this is that, this will cause an embolism similar to a human having a blood clot. The more embolisms a tree has, the more susceptible it is to drought. 

The problem with tropical trees suffering through drought is that they store carbon that reduces global warming. If those plants die and decompose because of the drought, they become a source of atmospheric carbon. The Amazon alone stores about 20 percent of all carbon in the Earth biomass.

The good thing is that the tropical trees in the Amazon Rainforest are actually more drought resistant that thought. They have developed a way to survive during the drought. A layer of live "parenchyma" cells surrounding the xylem helps tropical trees. They store water and mediate the osmotic pressure so water can be redistributed to where it is most needed. Tropical trees compared to temperate trees have about three times more parenchyma cells which means they are more strongly resilient against droughts. 

So, don't worry guys! Hopefully, the whole earth will be like tropical trees, resilient against drought.


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