RESUMO

Freezing tolerance as a cold resistance mechanism is described for the first time in a plant growing in the tropical range of the Andean high mountains. Draba chionophila, the plant in which freezing tolerance was found, is the vascular plant which reaches the highest altitudes in the Venezuelan Andes (approximately 4700m). Night cycles of air and leaf temperature were studied in the field to determine the temperature at which leaf freezing began. In the laboratory, thermal analysis and freezing injury determinations were also carried out. From both field and laboratory experiments, it was determined that freezing of the leaf tissue, as well as root and pith tissue, initiated at a temperature of approximately-5.0°C, while freezing injury occurred at approximately-12.0°C for the pith, and below-14.0°C for roots and leaves. This difference in temperature suggests that the plant still survives freezing in the-5.0 to-14.0°C range. Daily cycles of leaf osmotic potential and soluble carbohydrate concentration were also determined in an attempt to explain some of the changes occurring in this species during the nighttime temperature period. A comparison between Andean and African high mountain plants from the point of view of cold resistance mechanisms is made.