Abstract
Climate change is decreasing global crop production and altering the balance of ecosystems worldwide, making it urgent to find alternative species that are not only resistant to drought and environmental salinity but also capable of developing in a great diversity of habitats in order to ease pressure on cropping systems and restore lands degraded by salt. Halophytes constitute a group of plants that can fulfill these demands, thanks their morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical, and genetic adaptations that enable them to survive in a wide variety of habitats (wetlands, deserts, or tropical and temperate zones). In this chapter, we summarize recently discovered ecophysiological mechanisms in a total of 19 halophytes divided according their respective habitats: xerohalophytes, psammophytes, and hydrohalophytes. We highlight adaptations that enable these plants to survive under stress conditions using many strategies, including phenotypic plasticity, salt excretion (salt glands, trichomes), saline dilution (succulent leaves), growth modulation (increased root/shoot ratio), stomatic and CO2 resistance, tight transpiration control, water-use efficiency, Na+ compartmentalization in the vacuole (through the Na+/H+ antiporter of tonoplast), osmolyte synthesis to favor osmotic adjustment, high K+/Na+ selectivity, activation of antioxidant systems (favoring the protection of membranes and photosynthetic apparatus from oxidative damage), the alternative C3-C4-CAM pathway according to environmental conditions, the modulation of growth regulators, and the expression of certain genes. In addition, these plants are potentially useful for multiple purposes, such as food, forage, biofuel, medicine, and phytoremediation.
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Bueno, M., Cordovilla, M.P. (2021). Ecophysiology and Uses of Halophytes in Diverse Habitats. In: Grigore, MN. (eds) Handbook of Halophytes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57635-6_57
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57635-6_57
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