Patterning and processes: how stomatal development defines physiological potential

• Gas-exchange is a critical function of all plants, underlying both photosynthesis and water conservation.
• Genetic controls in stomatal development define leaf gas-exchange capacity and constrain these physiological processes.
• Plasticity and adaptation in stomatal development can alter plant productivity and plant–environment interactions.
• The functional and developmental sensitivity of stomata to increasing atmospheric CO2 will affect climate change.
• Stomatal research provides interdisciplinary linkages between genetics, plant physiology, and global ecology.

Stomata present an excellent opportunity for connecting scientific disciplines: they are governed by complex genetic controls and unique cell biology, while also possessing a large influence over plant productivity and relationships with the environment. For this reason, stomata have engaged scientists for many centuries and continue to be a central interest for many fields of research. Recent technological advances have enabled interdisciplinary studies of stomata that were previously out of reach, and as a result, we are beginning to realize new insights about stomatal biology that place them at the intersection of our changing world. This review is intended to describe these interdisciplinary connections, discuss the relevant scales at which they are having an influence, and highlight ways we can capitalize on such novel approaches. While we incorporate knowledge about molecular advances, this is not intended to be an extensive review of that field, but rather, we focus on how those systems inform plant physiology and are connected to global scales.