Freezing damage of plants is of great agronomic and ecological importance. This is important in seed preservation, and in the ecology of dry environments. Finally, drying and freeze-drying of foods is successful in a limited range of foods. The addition of solutes has been reported to improve food quality in freeze-drying. The following document is a brief description of some of the biophysical aspects of cryobiology and anhydrobiology, with particular emphasis on the research done by members of this research group.
More detail is given in the links and publications at the end.
The dark bars represent cellular death. The extracellular solution almost always freezes first. The extracellular solutes are concentrated in the remaining unfrozen extracellular water, and, if cooling rates are slow enough, this dehydrates the cell by osmosis as water diffuses from the cytoplasm into the more concentrated external solution. Consequently, there is insufficient time for much water to the cell, so supercooling occurs with relatively little osmotic contraction. Supercooling can lead to intracellular ice formation, which is fatal.