Drylands cover more than 41% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface and host a remarkable diversity of plant species. These species have evolved a wide range of functional and physiological adaptations to thrive under conditions of limited water availability, high temperatures, and challenging soil environments. As climate change accelerates the expansion and intensification of drylands, understanding how plants respond to these stressors is becoming increasingly urgent. This Research Topic aims to highlight cutting-edge research in plant physiological ecology within dryland ecosystems, exploring the mechanisms that underpin plant survival, productivity, and ecosystems functioning in water-limited environments. Experimental and observational contributions spanning multiple scales, from molecular and cellular physiology to ecosystem-level dynamics, and conducted in natural, managed (agricultural, forestry), or urban dryland systems are welcome. In this way, we will contribute to “Understanding Dryland Ecosystems Through the Lens of Plant Physiological Ecology.”

This Research Topic seeks to foster multidisciplinary collaboration and serve as a platform for advancing our understanding of plant function, adaptation, and resilience in dryland environments. By bridging ecological theory, physiological mechanisms, and applied solutions, the collection aims to inform more sustainable land management, crop development, and ecosystem restoration under global change.

We invite submissions of original research articles, brief research reports, and review papers (including mini and systematic reviews) that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

- Physiological and molecular mechanisms of abiotic stress tolerance in dryland plants
- Functional trait variation and community assembly along aridity gradients
- Responses to combined abiotic and biotic stressors in dry environments
- Plant–microbiome and soil-plant interactions under water-limited conditions
- Hydraulic traits, xylem vulnerability, and drought-induced plant mortality
- Succulence and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) as models of water-use efficiency
- Omics approaches (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics) to elucidate stress responses
- Dryland agriculture: drought-resilient crop development and biotechnological innovations
- Urban plant ecophysiology and urban greenery

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Understanding Dryland Ecosystems Through the Lens of Plant Physiological Ecology