The elemental composition of halophytes correlates with key morphological adaptations and taxonomic groups

Abstract

Halophytes are crucial in the light of increasing soil salinization, yet our understanding of their chemical composition and its relationship to key morphological traits such as succulence or salt excretion is limited. This study targets this issue by exploring the relationship between the elemental composition of 108 plant species from saline environments in Iran and their eco-morphological traits and taxonomy. Leaves and/or photosynthetic shoots of individual species and soils were sampled and analyzed for 20 elements in plant samples and 5 major elements plus % gypsum content, pH, and EC in soil samples. Euhalophytes and leaf-and stem-succulent and salt-recreting plants showed high concentrations of Na, S, and Mg and low concentrations of Ca and K. In contrast, pseudo-halophytes, facultative-halophytes and eury-hygro-halophytes, which often lack succulent shoots, showed low Na, S, and Mg and high Ca and K concentrations in their leaves. Clear patterns were identified among taxonomic families, with Chenopodiaceae and Plumbaginaceae having high Na and Mg and low Ca and K concentrations, Caryophyllaceae having high K, Poaceae having low Na, and Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, and Brassicaceae showing high foliar Ca concentrations. We conclude that the elemental composition of halophytes and pseudo-halophytes is related to salt-tolerance categories, eco-morphological types and respective taxonomic groups.

The Roles of CCCH Zinc-Finger Proteins in Plant Abiotic Stress Tolerance

“…When a plant is subjected to stress, it activates the corresponding regulatory pathway; the resulting responses help it to survive under the stress [ 7 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. In harsh conditions such as high salt levels, extreme drought and high concentrations of heavy metals or arsenic, halophytes [ 23 , 24 ], xerophytes [ 25 , 26 ] and arsenic hyperaccumulators [ 27 , 28 ] have formed their own unique morphology that resists abiotic stress during long-term evolution. Plant responses to abiotic stresses involve a large number of transcription factors [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

Pollen morphology of the subfamily Salicornioideae (Chenopodiaceae) in Eurasia and North Africa

“…The members of Salicornioideae subfamily form vast communities in coastal and inland saline soils (Akhani 2004) and play a major role in providing water and energy to wild and domestic animals in halophytic pastures. Some genera, such as Halostachys, Halocnemum and Kalidium with a high yield, are traditional fodder for livestock (Zhao and Feng 2001;Squires and Ayoub 2012); these genera are also known to accumulate Na + and Clin their tissues, harvest and removal of which might be a solution for soil desalinization (Zhao et al 2002(Zhao et al , 2005Matinzadeh et al 2013;Matinzadeh et al 2019). In addition, there are many studies showing the potential medical uses of species of the Salicornioideae subfamily, including anti-oxidant and antimicrobial (Liu et al 2010), anti-phytopathogenic (Hong-bing et al 2009, and anti-diabetic (Bang et al 2002) properties.…”

The Element Composition Strategies in Chenopodiaceae Halophytes Reveal Complex Plant-Soil Interactions in Saline-Alkali Grassland

“…This indicates the possibility that Na plays the same or more important role than K in osmotic regulation. Ca regulates Na + /H + reverse transportation in vacuoles as well as inhibiting the entry of Na into roots (Matinzadeh et al 2019). It was observed in this study that the high concentration of Ca in recretohalophytes is likely to be associated to its increase, leading to the down-regulation of Na absorption.…”

“…The variance components attributable to salt tolerance type differed considerably between elements. This relationship is mainly driven by elements directly related to salinity, such as P, Na, Mg, K, and Ca (Matinzadeh et al 2019). The results reveal high correlation between the elemental composition of plants growing on saline arid soils and salt-tolerance types.…”