Sabkha Ecosystems

Sabkha Ecosystems
Author: M. Ajmal Khan
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2014-05-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9400774117

Sustainable development is the key for the survival in 21st century. The natural resources are finite and cannot be used with impunity because we are the custodian of these resources and have responsibility to pass these to the next generation. This monumental task requires several major commitments and most important of them is to arrest population explosion which has already reached seven billion. Natural resources like air to breath, food to eat, and water to drink, and fossil fuel to maintain this life style are being overexploited. Unrestrained consuming culture will accelerate undesired situation. This situation will have more dire consequences in resource limited ecosystems like dry lands. Given the severe scarcity of water, ever increasing population and soil salinization out of the box solutions for the provision of food and clean energy is required to spare meager fresh water resources for conventional agriculture. This volume contains a number of articles dealing with halophyte ecology, bio-geography, ecophysiology, hyper-saline soils, biofuels, biosaline agriculture, biosaline landscaping, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity. It also contains the communication of innovative ideas, such as the research into floating mangroves, seagrass terraces, as well as a World Halophyte Garden containing all known salt-tolerant plant species. It is hoped that the information provided will not only advance vegetation science, but that it will truly generate more interdisciplinarity, networking, awareness, and inspire farmers, and agricultural and landscaping stakeholders to seriously engage in halophyte cash crop production in coastal hyper-saline areas.

Cash Crop Halophytes: Recent Studies

Cash Crop Halophytes: Recent Studies
Author: Helmut Lieth
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2013-11-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 940170211X

This volume follows up a seminal meeting, presenting reports on progress made with recommendations made there. The text reports on the development of pilot projects and on the organization of an international organization. All this will serve as the foundation for future efforts to develop the common utilisation of cash crop halophytes.