Ecophysiology

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Ecophysiology or environmental physiology is a biological discipline which studies the adaptation of organism's physiology to environmental conditions.

1 Ecophysiology of plants
2 Ecophysiology of animals
3 Biochemical basis of adaptation
4 Climate change

[edit] Ecophysiology of plants

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Plants are sessile and therefore cannot move away when environmental conditions turn unfavourable. Animals are able to escape heat, cold, drought, floods etc, but plants have to endure them. For this reason they have impressive array of genes which aid in adapting to changing conditions. The genome of black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) was sequenced in 2006 and is predicted to contain more than 40 000 genes. In comparison, the human genome is predicted to contain 20 000 - 25 000 genes. This disparity is at least partly explained by the fact that the plant needs to adapt to wider range of conditions.