Abnormally altered precipitation patterns induced by climate change have profound global effects on crop production. However, the plant functional responses to various precipitation regimes remain unclear. Here, greenhouse and field experiments were conducted to determine how maize plant functional traits respond to drought, flooding, and rewatering. Drought and flooding hampered photosynthetic capacity, particularly when severe and/or prolonged. Most photosynthetic traits recovered after rewatering, with few compensatory responses. Rewatering often elicited high photosynthetic resilience in plants exposed to severe drought at the end of plant development, with the response strongly depending on the drought severity/duration and plant growth stage. The associations of chlorophyll concentrations with photosynthetically functional activities were stronger during post-tasselling than pre-tasselling, implying an involvement of leaf age/senescence in responses to episodic drought and subsequent rewatering. Coordinated changes in chlorophyll content, gas exchange, fluorescence parameters (PSII quantum efficiency and photochemical/non-photochemical radiative energy dissipation) possibly contributed to the enhanced drought resistance and resilience and suggested a possible regulative trade-off. These findings provide fundamental insights into how plants regulate their functional traits to deal with sporadic alterations in precipitation. Breeding and management of plants with high resistance and resilience traits could help crop production under future climate change.

中文翻译：

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干旱和复水条件下玉米植物的光合抗性和恢复力

气候变化引起的降水模式异常改变对作物生产具有深远的全球影响。但是，植物对各种降水方式的功能响应仍然不清楚。在这里，进行了温室和田间试验，以确定玉米植物的功能性状如何响应干旱，洪水和补水。干旱和洪水阻碍了光合能力，特别是在严重和/或长时间时。复水后，大多数光合性状恢复，补偿反应很少。在植物发育结束时，再浇水经常会在遭受严重干旱的植物中引发高的光合作用弹性，其响应强烈取决于干旱的严重程度/持续时间和植物的生长期。抽穗后叶绿素浓度与光合功能活动的关联要强于抽穗前，表明叶龄/衰老参与了干旱和随后的补水。叶绿素含量，气体交换，荧光参数（PSII量子效率和光化学/非光化学辐射能耗散）的协调变化可能有助于增强抗旱性和恢复力，并建议在调节上进行权衡。这些发现为植物如何调节其功能性状以应对降水的零星变化提供了基础见解。具有高抗逆和抗逆性状的植物的育种和管理可以在未来的气候变化下帮助作物生产。