Biotic stress

Biotic stress is stress that occurs as a result of damage done to plants by other living organisms, (examples) such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, beneficial and harmful insects, weeds, and cultivated or native plants. Not to be confused with abiotic stress, which is the negative impact of non-living factors on the organisms in a specific environment (examples) such as sunlight, wind, salinity, over watering and drought. The types of biotic stresses imposed on a plant depend on both geography and climate and on the host plant and its ability to resist particular stresses. Although there are many kinds of biotic stress, the majority of plant diseases are caused by fungi. Biotic stress remains a broadly defined term and those who study it face many challenges, such as the greater difficulty in controlling biotic stresses in an experimental context compared to abiotic stress.

The damage caused by these various living and nonliving agents can appear very similar. Even with close observation, accurate diagnosis can be difficult. For example, browning of leaves on an oak tree caused by drought stress may appear similar to leaf browning caused by oak wilt, a serious vascular disease, or the browning cause by anthracnose, a fairly minor leaf disease.

It is a major focus of agricultural research, due to the vast economic losses caused by biotic stress to cash crops. The relationship between biotic stress and plant yield affects economic decisions as well as practical development. The impact of biotic injury on crop yield impacts population dynamics, plant-stressor coevolution, and ecosystem nutrient cycling.

Biotic stress also impacts horticultural plant health and natural habitats ecology. It also has dramatic changes in the host recipient.Plants are exposed to many stress factors, such as drought, high salinity or pathogens, which reduce the yield of the cultivated plants or affect the quality of the harvested products. Arabidopsis thaliana is often used as a model plant to study the responses of plants to different sources of stress.

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