What are the long term effects of drought?

Answer 1

Human activities increase the harmful effects of prolonged drought by causing the environment difficulty in recovering. For example, if soil is damaged by over-use or over-fertilization, the rains following the drought will cause major mudslides, runoff that pollutes lakes, and even massive erosion.

Answer 2

To understand the impact of drought on plants, a review of water relations can be helpful. Without water, there is no plant life. It is the milieu in which chemical reactions inside a plant cell take place. Water is the major component of the protoplasm which makes up the content of cells. Water also serves as a raw material for many metabolic processes, including photosynthesis.

Aside from its role in photosynthesis and other chemical reactions, water plays a significant role in the physical processes of plant growth. As new cells form, they expand in response to turgor pressure, that is, the pressure exerted on the cell membranes and walls by water entering the cells. Following this expansion, the cell adds additional layers of cellulose to form a more permanent cell structure. This is a fundamental process in the elongation of newly formed cells and the growth of woody plants.

The uptake and transport of mineral nutrients occurs in water. Minerals dissolved in soil water move into plant roots and then to the vascular system, more specifically the xylem, for transport throughout the plant. There they combine with proteins to form enzymes that control the biochemical reactions essential to plant health and growth.