Osmotic adjustment of cells to water stress Osmotic adjustment to water stress serves to maintain turgor as Y w declines. Elasticity of cell walls Plants can modify the rigity of their cells walls in a couple of ways in the face of water stress.
Cells lose turgor and begin to shrink away from their cell walls.
Increase cell wall elasticity . In this case, high elasticity allows the cell wall to shrink around the shrinking cytoplasm. The squeezing of the cell wall around the cytoplasm maintains greater turgor at a particular tissue water content. This is a good thing for allowing a rapidly transpiring plant to store water when it's available. The cellular level of carbohydrates determines cell division and potential for growth.