Researchers from the university of western Sydney have discovered a new way for Australian eucalyptus trees to survive extreme heat waves - by vaporizing large amounts of water from their leaves in the process, similar to human sweating, foreign media reported. The study used a facility called Whole Tree Chambers, where researchers can grow trees up to nine meters tall and control air temperature, soil moisture, carbon dioxide levels and other growing conditions.

The researchers planted six Parramatta monsters in a chamber three degrees above average temperature and another six in a chambe that was colder than average.

When the trees grew to more than six meters long, the researchers suspended irrigation for a month, dried the soil surface, and then allowed them to grow in extremely hot conditions of up to 43 degrees. When confronted with such extreme growth conditions, trees produce transpiration, in which large amounts of water are transported into the leaves and vaporized to prevent them from being damaged by heat.

Interestingly, the eucalyptus trees previously planted at two different temperatures did not differ in response to this extreme heat. This suggests that living in a warmer environment does not make it more tolerant to higher temperatures.

The study also found that the trees were able to cope with such extreme conditions by quickly increasing the heat resistance of their leaves and finding water from a depth of 1.5 meters underground.

Next, the team will study trees of other species to determine whether this emergency is only in eucalyptus or is also present in other trees.