Assessment of additive thermal damage accumulation in plants using the TDT model

The thermal death time (TDT) model has revealed that the duration a plant can tolerate thermal stress decreases exponentially as the intensity of the temperature becomes more extreme. This relationship between temperature and exposure duration implies that thermal damage accumulates additively, meaning the total impact of exposure to varying temperatures is the sum of individual exposures. By using the TDT model to predict plant mortality, we test this hypothesis and find that additivity holds even under fluctuating thermal conditions. To assess the broader applicability of the TDT model, we examine in a special case how different monoterpenes affect thermal stress tolerance and analyse data from previous studies across different plant species and traits. Our findings suggest that the TDT model provides a general framework for understanding how thermal damage accumulates in plants and identifying the temperature ranges that allows for growth and those that do not.