How Plants Survive Drought and Flooding

Plants need water, but too little or too much water can stress them. Under normal conditions, plants lose water from leaves and other parts through transpiration, which is the evaporation of water from the plant. During drought stress, water loss through transpiration can be much greater than water taken up from the soil, an...

Insufficient or excess water can pose a serious threat to plants. 

Under normal conditions, most of the water taken up by a plant evaporates from its leaves and other plant parts, a process called transpiration. Drought stress causes plants to wilt, because the water lost through transpiration exceeds the water absorbed from the soi...