Bridging Photosynthesis and Plant Hydraulics: Mechanisms, Trade-offs, and Climate Resilience

Photosynthesis and plant hydraulics are two fundamentally linked processes that together govern plant productivity, water use efficiency, and ecosystem resilience. Carbon assimilation through photosynthesis is tightly coupled to stomatal regulation, which simultaneously controls water loss through transpiration, while sustained photosynthetic activity depends on the hydraulic system's capacity to maintain leaf water status, turgor, and metabolic function. This coordination is increasingly challenged by global environmental change, including drought, heat waves, rising CO₂ levels, and increased vapour pressure deficit, as well as flooding, salinity, and excess irradiance. Under such conditions, the ability of plants to maintain functional coupling between carbon gain and water transport becomes a decisive factor for survival and productivity. Abiotic stresses can disrupt this balance by impairing water uptake or transport, altering stomatal behaviour, reducing photochemical efficiency, increasing oxidative pressure, and ultimately limiting carbon gain. Despite advances in physiology, ecohydrology, molecular biology, high-throughput phenotyping, and modelling, a unified framework linking these systems from the cellular to the ecosystem scale remains fragmented. This Research Topic fills this gap by synthesizing cross-disciplinary knowledge, innovative methodologies, and collaborative efforts, with the aim of elucidating the mechanisms, interactions, and emergent properties of plant resilience, and contributing to the development of climate-resilient crop varieties, sustainable agriculture, and next-generation land surface models.

This Research Topic addresses a fundamental gap in our understanding of how photosynthesis and plant hydraulics are coordinated across biological scales, and what happens when this coordination breaks down under abiotic stress. The link between "water failure and carbon deprivation" is well recognized, yet the mechanistic pathways, regulatory networks, and trait-level determinants that govern plant responses from initial acclimation through to irreversible damage or successful recovery remain poorly resolved. Our purpose is to synthesize empirical and theoretical integrative frameworks that accurately capture plant carbon–water dynamics, using cutting-edge phenotyping, high-resolution imaging, molecular signaling, and process-based modelling to identify key regulatory networks and biomarkers of stress tolerance. We are particularly interested in studies that clarify which physiological traits sustain photosynthetic and hydraulic function under stress, which failures trigger irreversible damage, and why certain species or genotypes recover more effectively than others. Ultimately, these insights will translate into actionable strategies for sustainable agriculture, ecosystem management, and the refinement of next-generation vegetation models.

We welcome original research, literature reviews, methodological reports, and perspectives on:
• Anatomical and physiological links between leaf venation, xylem/phloem transport, and stomatal/mesophyll conductance regulation by hydraulic cues.
• Signaling pathways and genomic networks coupling hydraulics to Calvin cycle, photoprotection, and carbon fixation.
• Responses and recovery from drought, flooding/waterlogging, salinity, heat, excess irradiance, or combined stresses, with an emphasis on trade-offs between hydraulic safety and carbon gain across biomes.
• Links between photoprotection, oxidative balance, water transport, xylem integrity, root function, and tissue water status.
• Applications of phenotyping tools (chlorophyll fluorescence, sap flow, micro-CT, isotopes, high-throughput) and cross-scale modelling (leaf to ecosystem fluxes) to quantify coupled carbon–water dynamics.
• Breeding, engineering, and biostimulant strategies to enhance water-use efficiency and resilience in crops and forests.
• Comparative studies using contrasting genotypes, species, mutants, or natural variation to identify mechanisms of stress resilience

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Plant hydraulics, Stomatal conductance, Xylem embolism, Water-use efficiency, Drought stress, Carbon–water coupling, Drought resilience, Eco-physiological modeling, Environmental stress, Flooding, Salinity, Photoprotection, Oxidative stress, Photosynthesis, Abiotic stress, Recovery

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.