introduction: demands of agricultural products, particularly in developing countries, are increasing rapidly. consequently, land and water resources are unable to sustain such demands. for decades, rangelands in africa, west and central asia suffered from overgrazing and many areas are severely degraded. range vegetation used to be the main feed resource for livestock particularly in the arid a...

Stable isotope studies (δ2H and δ18O) of water within plants are providing new information on sources, competitive interactions use patterns under natural conditions. This is based the assumption that there no fractionation at time uptake or during its transport trees. However, previous have found does occur in taken up through roots halophytic xerophytic plants. It unclear how widespread such ...

Isolated thylakoids from halophytic Eutrema salsugineum (Thellungiella salsuginea) produces more H2O2 in comparison to glycophytic Arabidopsis thaliana. The first objective of this study was to verify whether this feature is relevant also to the intact chloroplasts and leaves. Enhanced H2O2 levels in chloroplasts and leaves of E. salsugineum were positively verified with several methods (electr...

Australia, the flattest, driest, and geologically oldest vegetated continent, has a uniquely high proportion of nutrient-poor soils. We develop a "Nutrient-Poverty/Intense-Fire Theory," which postulates that most anomalous features of organisms and ecosystems of Australia are the evolutionary consequences of adaptations to nutrient poverty, compounded by intense fire that tends to occur as a re...

As a major sink, estuarine/salt marsh ecosystem can receive discharges laden with myriads of contaminants including metals/metalloids from man-made activities. Two among the major consequences of metal/metalloid-exposure in estuarine/salt marsh ecosystem flora such as halophytic plants are: (a) the excessive accumulation of light energy that in turn leads to severe impairments in the photosyste...

In order to find some basis of salinity resistance in the chloroplastic metabolism, a halophytic Thellungiella salsuginea was compared with glycophytic Arabidopsis thaliana. In control T.s. plants the increased ratios of chlorophyll a/b and of fluorescence emission at 77 K (F730 /F685 ) were documented, in comparison to A.t.. This was accompanied by a higher YII and lower NPQ (non-photochemical...