Limited plastic responses in safety traits support greater hydraulic risk under drier conditions

We reviewed results from 223 studies to see how plants change the way they transport water from the soil to the leaves when conditions like temperature, CO₂, light, soil nutrients, and water supply change. When it gets drier, plants often adjust in ways that help them cope (they become a bit better at avoiding air bubbles in their water pipes and change their “plumbing” to support leaves), but at the same time their overall water stress gets worse, so their built-in safety buffer against dying from drought still shrinks. This means plants may face a higher risk of failing to transport water in a drier future, and changes in light and nutrients can also affect how plants respond to drought.