Mechanisms of Frost Survival

Abstract

Survival capacity, i.e. the ability of a plant to withstand adverse weather conditions (Larcher 1973), is a highly complex phenomenon. Although frost survival capacity depends primarily on the specific frost resistance of a plant, various mechanisms are involved which help the plant to mitigate, prevent or escape excessive low temperature stress. Furthermore, recovery from injuries must be taken into consideration: in order to survive unusually severe frost the plant need not necessarily remain completely undamaged, but repair must be still possible (see Sect. 3.4). Therefore, the chance for frost survival of a plant in a given environment consists in mitigating or excluding the freezing risk, in frost resistance and in recovery after frost damage.