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Plant water loss: it’s complicated

It has long been thought that plants lose water through the same pathway as they acquire CO2. New evidence that this isn’t the case – that water loss and CO2 acquisition may occur via different pathways – not only overturns more than a century of plant physiology: it suggests there may be new approaches to developing drought-resistant crop species.

Concept image with tree of knowledge planting on opening old big book
New research on the mechanism of plant water loss reveals the role of humidity is important Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin Getty Images