Ice nucleation and deep supercooling in plants: new insights using infrared thermography

Abstract

In the course of a year, perennial plants in temperate climates are exposed to several types of freezing stress including low temperature extremes, ice encasement, and unseasonable episodes of frost. Many plants can adapt to survive freezing through a process of cold acclimation. This is a complex process with many contributing factors.1 Cold acclimation is also a dynamic process. Not only does it exhibit a distinct seasonality but the mechanisms that confer cold hardiness in midwinter may differ from those in late winter or early spring. This is further complicated by the discovery that in many perennial woody plants, and some herbaceous plants, tissues within the same plant can respond very differently to exposure to freezing temperatures.