Plants have been exposed to multiple environmental stressors on long-term (seasonal) and short-term (daily) basis since their appearance on land. During the last decades, however, plants have been frequently exposed to sudden changes in their environment (imposed by global change) which indeed involves the acclimation/adaptation syndrome of living organisms. The frequency of these unpredictable ‘stress’ events is expected to increase further in the near future. Such severe, even transient alterations in environmental stimuli (variables) represent new challenges to plants, which do not possess the ‘flight’ strategy usually displayed by other organisms.