Page "Abiotic stress" Paragraph 14

Facilitation, or the positive interactions between different species of plants, is an intricate web of association in a natural environment.

It is how plants work together.

In areas of high stress, the level of facilitation is especially high as well.

This could possibly be because the plants need a stronger network to survive in a harsher environment, so their interactions between species, such as cross-pollination or mutualistic actions, become more common to cope with the severity of their habitat.

This facilitation will not go so far as to protect an entire species, however.

For example, cold weather crops like rye, oats, wheat, and apples are expected to decline by about 15 % in the next fifty years and strawberries will drop as much as 32 % simply because of projected climate changes of a few degrees.

Plants are extremely sensitive to such changes, and do not generally adapt quickly.