Halotolerance is the adaptation of living organisms to conditions of high salinity. Halotolerant species tend to live in areas such as coastal dunes, saline deserts, salt marshes, and inland salt seas and springs. Halophiles are a group of bacteria that live in highly saline environments, and indeed in many cases require the salinity to survive. Halophytes are salt-tolerant higher plants. In biology and ecology, an organism (in Greek organon = instrument) is an assembly of organs that influence each other in such a way that they function as a more or less stable whole and have properties of life. ... Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. ... Mesquite Flat Dunes in Death Valley National Park In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by eolian (wind-related) processes. ... A dune in the Egyptian desert Desert in California In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives little precipitation, less than 200 mm per year. ... In geography, a marsh is a type of wetland, featuring grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants (possibly with low-growing woody plants) in a context of shallow water. ... Sunset at sea Look up Sea on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Look up maritime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A sea is a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, or a large, usually saline, lake that lacks a natural outlet such as the Caspian Sea and the... A spring is a point where groundwater flows out of the ground, and is thus where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface. ... Halophiles are extremophiles that thrive in environments with very high concentrations of salt (at least 0. ... Phyla/Divisions Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Omnibacteria Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular, bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... A halophyte is a plant that naturally grows where it is affected by salinity in the root area or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs, and seashores. ...

Fields of scientific research relevant to halotolerance include biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, physiology, ecology, and genetics. Biochemistry is the chemistry of life. ... Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. ... Cell biology (also called cellular biology or cytology, from the Greek kytos, container) is an academic discipline which studies cells. ... Physiology (in Greek physis = nature and logos = word) is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. ... (Ecology is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for the natural environment. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ...

An understanding of halotolerance can be applicable to areas such as arid-zone agriculture, xeriscaping, aquaculture (of fish or algae), bioproduction of desirable compounds (such as phycobilins or carotenoids) using seawater to support growth, or remediation of salt-affected soils. In addition, many environmental stressors involve or induce osmotic changes, so knowledge gained about halotolerance can also be relevant to understanding tolerance to extremes in moisture or temperature. As an area of research and development, arid-zone agriculture, or desert agriculture, includes studies of how to increase the agricultural productivity of lands dominated by lack of freshwater, an abundance of heat and sunlight, and usually one or more of extreme winter cold, short rainy season, saline soil or... Xeriscaping, a word coined by combining xeros (Greek for dry) with landscaping, is a water-conservative approach to landscaping. ... Aquaculture is the cultivation of aquatic organisms, such as fish, shellfish, algae and other aquatic plants. ... Phycobilins are the chromophores of phycobiliproteins (photosynthetic pigments) found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of red algae, glaucophytes and some cryptomonads (though not in green algae and higher plants). ... Carotenoids are organic pigments naturally occurring in plants and some other photosynthetic organisms like algae, some types of fungus and some bacteria. ... Remediation is the removal of pollution or contaminants from land (including sediments in waterways) for the general protection of the environment or, quite commonly, from a brownfield site so that it can be reused. ...

Goals of studying halotolerance include increasing the agricultural productivity of lands affected by soil salination or where only saline water is available. Conventional agricultural species could be made more halotolerant by gene transfer from naturally halotolerant species (by conventional breeding or genetic engineering) or by applying treatments developed from an understanding of the mechanisms of halotolerance. In addition, naturally halotolerant plants or microorganisms could be developed into useful agricultural crops or fermentation organisms. Soil salination is the accumulation of free salts to such an extent that it leads to degradation of soils and vegetation. ... Breeding has several meanings related to procreation: In animal husbandry and in horticulture the selection of stock for propagation and the act of insemination by natural or artificial means is called breeding. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Genetically modified organism. ... In its strictest sense, fermentation (formerly called zymnosis) is the energy-yielding anaerobic metabolic breakdown of a nutrient molecule, such as glucose, without net oxidation. ...