Adaptive Strategies of Plants Under Adverse Environment: Mitigating Effects of Antioxidant System

Variation in plant adaptive strategies to the diversity and variability of the environmental factors is the key to plant developmental success. Climate change phenomenon may be considered as one of the important factors of the adverse environment since it may lead to visible changes in rainfall and temperature in the global as well as regional aspects. Under the conditions of such an unfavorable environment, plants increase the production of reactive forms of oxygen which further trigger disequilibrium between their production and removal. To control the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), higher plants possess the ROS detoxification system which includes enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant components that remove ROS and protect plant cells from oxidative damage. This chapter provides main information on ROS generation, redox balance, and plant protection in the view of ecophysiological adaptations to the adverse environment with a special focus on the antioxidant defense system.