ABSTRACT
Despite the importance of biotic stress on crop yield and plant fitness, the physiological mechanisms by which plants respond to these stresses continue to be poorly understood. In Chapter 1, Peterson and Higley argue that a focus on plant physiology provides a common language for characterizing plant stress and is essential for integrating understandings of stress. In this chapter, I build on that theme and discuss why plant gas exchange processes provide a critical foundation for that common language.
