Thank you for the replies to date to my enquiry.
Next question; are there any aquatic plants (seaweeds) growing in the Dead
Sea, or is the salt concentration too high for them?
Thanks
Fred.

I'd like to know more about that too. Is it a barren salt pool or does it
enjoy a unique flora which is salt - resistant?

BGGS.

In article ,
[BGGS] wrote...

Thank you for the replies to date to my enquiry.
Next question; are there any aquatic plants (seaweeds) growing in the Dead
Sea, or is the salt concentration too high for them?
Thanks
Fred.

I'd like to know more about that too. Is it a barren salt pool or does it
enjoy a unique flora which is salt - resistant?

From a quick web search:

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a...ia/default.asp:

"In the February 8, 1997 issue of New Scientist (page 37), "Left for
Dead" reports on plans to "rescue" the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea
with waters from the Red Sea. The decrease in salinity may threaten
its fragile, simple ecology. The Dead Sea currently averages 340 grams
of salt per liter, including high concentrations of magnesium and
calcium, making it unsuitable for the multicellular organisms that
inhabit other high-salt waters. Only two groups of organisms -- the
unicellular green alga Dunaliella parva and a group of archaebacteria,
live in the sea. Scientists fear that decreases in salinity and the
ionic concentrations of magnesium and calcium threaten these unique
organisms."

http://www.angelfire.com/on2/daviddarling/halophile.htm

"halophiles

Microbes, including bacteria and archaea, which live, grow, and
multiply in highly saline environments. Extreme halophiles, all of
which are archaea apart from the green alga Dunaliella salina, inhabit
water that is up to 10 times more saline than ordinary sea-water
(approximately 30 percent salt content) including that found in the
Great Salt Lake in Utah, Owens Lake in California, the Dead Sea, and
saltines. They are mostly aerobic, have specialized cell walls, and
incorporate pigmentation in the form of bacteriorhodopsin, for
photosynthesis, and carotenoids for ultraviolet protection. To prevent
an exodus of water from the cell, halophiles offset the high salt in
the environment by accumulating such compounds as potassium and
glycine-betaine."

http://zdna2.umbi.umd.edu/~dassarma/halophiles.pdf

[an article on extreme halophiles, including those of the
Dead Sea]

http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact303/Maj...sOfProkaryotes

"Extreme halophiles live in natural environments such as the Dead
Sea, the Great Salt Lake, or evaporating ponds of seawater where the
salt concentration is veryhigh (as high as 5 molar or 25 percent NaCl).
These prokaryotes require salt for growth and will not grow at low salt
concentrations. Their cell walls, ribosomes, and enzymes are stabilized
by Na+. Halobacterium halobium, the prevalent species in the Great Salt
Lake, adapts to the high-salt environment by the development of "purple
membrane", actually patches of light-harvesting pigment in the plasma
membrane. The pigment is a type of rhodopsin called bacteriorhodopsin
which reacts with light in a way that forms a proton gradient on the
membrane allowing the synthesis of ATP. This is the only example in
nature of non photosynthetic photophosphorylation. These organisms are
heterotrophs that normally respire by aerobic means. The high
concentration of NaCl in their environment limits the availability of
O2 for respiration so they are able to supplement their ATP-producing
capacity by converting light energy into ATP using bacteriorhodopsin."


http://www.isslr.org/directory/alldirectory.asp

Hope that helps.

Is it a barren salt pool or does it enjoy a unique flora which is salt -
resistant?

There are no plants in or right next to the Dead Sea. Israel does have some
salt resistant plants, but they grow elsewhere, either near brackish
underground water or on the Mediterranean coast. Find out why Abraham planted a
tamarisk in Beersheba. Read Tree and Shrub in our Biblical Heritage, by Nogah
Hareuveni.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

In article , (Iris Cohen) wrote:
Is it a barren salt pool or does it enjoy a unique flora which is salt -
resistant?

There are no plants in or right next to the Dead Sea.

How close do you consider 'right next to'? There are date palms growing
at the Dead Sea Works chemical factory; there are plants growing in and
around all the less-saline springs that flow into the Dead Sea.

cheers,

Marj

* * *
Marj Tiefert: http://www.mindspring.com/~mtiefert/
Mediterranean Garden Shop: http://stores.tiefert.com/garden/
In Sunset zone 14-mild

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

"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.

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! BRBR

How fascinating. I didn't see any when I was there. I did collect a piece of
rock salt as a memento, but I cleaned it thoroughly before I brought it home.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Years ago I drove across the Great Salt Lake Dessert flats on I 80, I
was surprised to noticeda very thin line of wispy very green grass
about 15-20 inches tall that grew along the right hand shoulder of the
road where the plants could receive water vapor and carbon dioxide
directly from the exhausts of the passing cars. Talk about hot, dry,
sandy, salty, places.

On 18 Sep 2003 13:10:58 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:

Is it a barren salt pool or does it enjoy a unique flora which is salt -
resistant?

There are no plants in or right next to the Dead Sea. Israel does have some
salt resistant plants, but they grow elsewhere, either near brackish
underground water or on the Mediterranean coast. Find out why Abraham planted a
tamarisk in Beersheba. Read Tree and Shrub in our Biblical Heritage, by Nogah
Hareuveni.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Aaron wrote in message . ..
Years ago I drove across the Great Salt Lake Dessert flats on I 80, I
was surprised to noticeda very thin line of wispy very green grass
about 15-20 inches tall that grew along the right hand shoulder of the
road where the plants could receive water vapor and carbon dioxide
directly from the exhausts of the passing cars. Talk about hot, dry,
sandy, salty, places.

On 18 Sep 2003 13:10:58 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:

Is it a barren salt pool or does it enjoy a unique flora which is salt -
resistant?

There are no plants in or right next to the Dead Sea. Israel does have some
salt resistant plants, but they grow elsewhere, either near brackish
underground water or on the Mediterranean coast. Find out why Abraham planted a
tamarisk in Beersheba. Read Tree and Shrub in our Biblical Heritage, by Nogah
Hareuveni.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)



I know that there is no higher plant living in the dead sea, it is too
salty for any plant to keep alive in the dead sea. to think that every
plant cell must keep a certain concentration of salts in them, but the
concentration is much less salty than that of dead sea. If any plant
is put into that high salty water, the cell will try to keep its
internal concentation equal to the outside, it will lost all of its
water, but even this it can not achieve that, it will die because of
lost of its water.
But there are many bacterias in the dead sea because of their
different structure to resist the saline. they have very tought cell
walls,and other mechanism to keep away of losting is water.Even some
bacterias can use the high
salt concentration to generate the energy they need to keep alive.
they can use the difference of the transmemebrane salt concentration
to generate the transmemebrane electrical potential-which is usually
used to motivate the ATP synthesis.
Also we can think that the plants on the shore of the dead sea can
live not on the water directly from the dead sea,but from other
source. such the undergroud water,which can come from the rain. also
come from the dead sea itself-we know that water from far away can go
throught the ground,which can remove some of its salt,until the water
get to the plant root, it will be fresh water!
So think that is not strange.

You are of course right. My post was sort of a non sequitor referring
to a dirrent place.. I was just impressed with the fact that on the
barren salty flats and given a wisp of water vapor and some CO2. these
plants lived in a very small niche.

On 23 Sep 2003 09:20:48 -0700, (R.bioson)
wrote:

Aaron wrote in message . ..
Years ago I drove across the Great Salt Lake Dessert flats on I 80, I
was surprised to noticeda very thin line of wispy very green grass
about 15-20 inches tall that grew along the right hand shoulder of the
road where the plants could receive water vapor and carbon dioxide
directly from the exhausts of the passing cars. Talk about hot, dry,
sandy, salty, places.

On 18 Sep 2003 13:10:58 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:

Is it a barren salt pool or does it enjoy a unique flora which is salt -
resistant?

There are no plants in or right next to the Dead Sea. Israel does have some
salt resistant plants, but they grow elsewhere, either near brackish
underground water or on the Mediterranean coast. Find out why Abraham planted a
tamarisk in Beersheba. Read Tree and Shrub in our Biblical Heritage, by Nogah
Hareuveni.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)



I know that there is no higher plant living in the dead sea, it is too
salty for any plant to keep alive in the dead sea. to think that every
plant cell must keep a certain concentration of salts in them, but the
concentration is much less salty than that of dead sea. If any plant
is put into that high salty water, the cell will try to keep its
internal concentation equal to the outside, it will lost all of its
water, but even this it can not achieve that, it will die because of
lost of its water.
But there are many bacterias in the dead sea because of their
different structure to resist the saline. they have very tought cell
walls,and other mechanism to keep away of losting is water.Even some
bacterias can use the high
salt concentration to generate the energy they need to keep alive.
they can use the difference of the transmemebrane salt concentration
to generate the transmemebrane electrical potential-which is usually
used to motivate the ATP synthesis.
Also we can think that the plants on the shore of the dead sea can
live not on the water directly from the dead sea,but from other
source. such the undergroud water,which can come from the rain. also
come from the dead sea itself-we know that water from far away can go
throught the ground,which can remove some of its salt,until the water
get to the plant root, it will be fresh water!
So think that is not strange.

I remember seeing photos of mine-tailing dumps in North England covered
with grasses which had adapted to the high mineral content.
With more rain the plants around the dead sea might accomodate the salt.


"Iris Cohen" wrote in message
...
Is it a barren salt pool or does it enjoy a unique flora which is
salt -
resistant?

There are no plants in or right next to the Dead Sea. Israel does have
some
salt resistant plants, but they grow elsewhere, either near brackish
underground water or on the Mediterranean coast. Find out why Abraham
planted a
tamarisk in Beersheba. Read Tree and Shrub in our Biblical Heritage, by
Nogah
Hareuveni.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

I remember seeing photos of mine-tailing dumps in North England covered
with grasses which had adapted to the high mineral content.
With more rain the plants around the dead sea might accomodate the salt.


"Iris Cohen" wrote in message
...
Is it a barren salt pool or does it enjoy a unique flora which is
salt -
resistant?

There are no plants in or right next to the Dead Sea. Israel does have
some
salt resistant plants, but they grow elsewhere, either near brackish
underground water or on the Mediterranean coast. Find out why Abraham
planted a
tamarisk in Beersheba. Read Tree and Shrub in our Biblical Heritage, by
Nogah
Hareuveni.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)