"Martin Hodson" wrote in message
m...
Dear All,
In addition I have seen and have photos of halophytic higher plants
(Suaeda spp.) growing on the sandy shore right next to the Dead Sea.
All around them is a solid crust of salt! You might also want to look
at:
YAKIR, D., YECHIELI, Y. (1995) Plant invasion of newly exposed
hypersaline Dead Sea shores. Nature 374, 803-805.
I seem to remember the authors suggested that the plants obtained some
fresh water from deeper sources. Even so these must be very tough
plants- not only are they dealing with salinity, but temperatures
often reach 45oC!!
Best Wishes,
Martin Hodson

_This has always puzzled me_ ; life seems infinitely adaptable and can even
find a modus vivendi in the boiling spouts of undersea volcanoes ("smokers")
but for some reason even given an abundance of sunlight and all the
nutrients they need, they never evolve into a plant which can grow in
extremely saline conditions. Even a Mangrove needs the salt concentration to
be fairly low. Pure seawater alone would kill it.

There's been a plan knocking around for many years to "rescue" the
Mediterranean from it's surplus of sewage by running a common pipeline up to
N. Africa, and depositing it in the Quattara Depression, that huge and
unproductive salt wasteland. The idea is to add nutrients and bring about a
fundamental change in it's native flora and agricultural possibilities.
Unless the GM boys can come up with a crop which just loves salt I can't see
it ever working. Be a useful "dump" though.