ABSTRACT
Animals are able to move in response to environmental stresses, whereas most higher plants are sessile and have developed mechanisms for coping with stresses while remaining fixed in their environment (1). Plant metabolic activities affected by stresses include a wide array of reactions and processes that can be characterized according to enzymatic and biochemical pathways, diffusion processes, and photochemical reactions. All of these processes are temperature-sensitive. The level of sensitivity depends on species, predisposing habitats, and nutritional status. Tissue temperatures above or below optimum cause some degree of plant stress. As plants evolved, the mechanisms used to cope with environmental stress have become genetically fixed (2).
