Assessment of Drought-Heat Dual Stress Tolerance in Woody Plants and Selection of Stress-Tolerant Species.

Abstract

Sequential drought and heat stress pose a growing threat to forest ecosystems in the context of climate change, yet systematic evaluation methods for woody plants remain limited. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive screening platform for identifying woody plant species tolerant to sequential drought and heat stress among 27 native species growing in Korea. A sequential stress protocol was applied: drought stress for 2 weeks, followed by high-temperature exposure at 45 °C. Physiological indicators, including relative water content (RWC) and electrolyte leakage index (ELI), were used for preliminary screening, supported by phenotypic observations, Evans blue staining for cell death, and DAB staining to assess oxidative stress and recovery ability. The results revealed clear differences among species. Chamaecyparis obtusa , Quercus glauca , and Q. myrsinaefolia exhibited strong tolerance, maintaining high RWC and low ELI values, while Albizia julibrissin was highly susceptible, showing severe membrane damage and low survival. DAB staining successfully distinguished tolerance levels based on oxidative recovery. Additional species such as Camellia sinensis , Q. acuta , Q. phillyraeoides , Q. salicina , and Ternstroemia japonica showed varied responses: Q. phillyraeoides demonstrated high tolerance, T. japonica showed moderate tolerance, and Q. salicina was relatively sensitive. The integrated screening system effectively differentiated tolerant species through multiscale analysis-physiological, cellular, and morphological-demonstrating its robustness and applicability. This study provides a practical and reproducible framework for evaluating sequential drought and heat stress in trees and offers valuable resources for urban forestry, reforestation, and climate-resilient species selection.

Plant phenotyping relevance

順次乾燥・高温ストレスに対する樹木の耐性を、生理・細胞・形態指標で評価する統合スクリーニング基盤そのものを開発・提示しており、表現型取得法が研究の中心である。

Code and data availability

The article describes plant phenotyping measurements (RWC, ELI, Evans blue and DAB staining, Fiji-based image quantification) but provides no public dataset, image repository, analysis code, or trained model. The Data Availability Statement only offers contact with the corresponding author, and no supplementary files (

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