Effects of climate change over plant physiology

Climate change is a dynamic and multifaced system of alterations in environmental conditions, that has evoked variations in temperature, CO2 concentrations, intensity of rainfall and atmospheric conditions. This has exposed plants to harsh and extreme climatic conditions, that adversely affect the morphological, developmental, cellular and molecular processes in plants. In this study, to observe a possible effect of climate change over plant physiology, stomata structures have been taken into consideration, because of their crucial role of regulation of both CO2 uptake, for photosynthesis, and evaporative loss of water. Two species have been examined, Quercus robur and Fagus sylvatica. Past leaves samples of these trees, taken from the “Erbario di Antonio Bertoloni”, have been compared to leaves samples of extant trees, by considering two main aspects: the number of stomata situated on leaf samples and superficial area of each stoma. The statistical analysis has been accomplished also by using an algorithm of machine learning. The results obtained differ between the two species: while in Fagus sylvatica there is a clear reduction in stomatal density and size, consistent with physiological strategies that plants might be adopting in response to recent climate change, the contrasting results for Quercus robur highlight the complexity of these possible plant variations.