Abnormally altered precipitation patterns induced by climate change have profound global efects on crop production. However, the plant functional responses to various precipitation regimes remain unclear. Here, greenhouse and feld experiments were conducted to determine how maize plant functional traits respond to drought, fooding and rewatering. Drought and fooding hampered photosynthetic capacity, particularly when severe and/or prolonged. Most photosynthetic traits recovered after rewatering, with few compensatory responses. Rewatering often elicited high photosynthetic resilience in plants exposed to severe drought at the end of plant development, with the response strongly depending on the drought severity/ duration. The associations of chlorophyll concentrations with photosynthetically functional activities were stronger during post-tasseling than pre-tasseling, implying an involvement of leaf age/senescence in responses to episodic drought and subsequent rewatering. Coordinated changes in chlorophyll content, gas exchange, fuorescence parameters (PSII quantum efciency and photochemical/non-photochemical radiative energy dissipation) possibly contributed to the enhanced drought resistance and resilience and suggested a possible regulative trade-of. These fndings provide fundamental insights into how plants regulate their functional traits to deal with sporadic alterations in precipitation. Breeding and management of plants with high resistance and resilience traits could help crop production under future climate change.