Salinity is one of major stresses which can severely limit plant production, especially in the arid and semi-arid regions. The present study was carried out to evaluate the impact of salinity stress on some physio-biochemical parameters in nitre bush plants (Nitraria schoberi). Thus, an experiment was carried out under natural conditions and salinity stress was induced by a combination of diffe...

Soil ecologists have debated the relative importance of dispersal limitation and ecological factors in determining the structure of soil microbial communities. Recent evidence suggests that 'everything is not everywhere', and that microbial communities are influenced by both dispersal limitation and ecological factors. However, we still do not understand the relative explanatory power of spatia...

The theory of convergence predicts that, given similar selective regimes, both present and past, unrelated ecological communities will show similar attributes. Mild Pleistocene climate, highly infertile soils, and similar fire regimes explain the remarkable convergence between mediterranean-type vegetation from South Africa (fynbos) and Australia (kwongan). Heathlands in the Aljibe Mountains, a...

Genetic diversity amongst 21 induced mutant clones tolerant to salinity along with one non-irradiated sensitive clone of banana (Musa acuminata cv. Dwarf Cavendish (AAA)) were studied using morphological and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Out of the 30 phenotypic indices screened, 23 were polymorph and two traits, leaf habit and blotches color, were differentiated by non-irrad...

BACKGROUND La Sal del Rey ("the King's Salt") is one of several naturally-occurring salt lakes in Hidalgo County, Texas and is part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The research objective was to isolate and characterize halophilic microorganisms from La Sal del Rey. Water samples were collected from the lake and a small creek that feeds into the lake. Soil samples were c...

The distribution of plants along environmental gradients is constrained by abiotic and biotic factors. Cumulative evidence attests of the impact of biotic factors on plant distributions, but only few studies discuss the role of belowground communities. Soil fungi, in particular, are thought to play an important role in how plant species assemble locally into communities. We first review existin...

salinity and flooding are as two very important factors of soil degradation. they often occur together and cancause severe damage to plants. however, plant response to environmental stresses may vary with growth stage atwhich exposure occurs. a pot study was conducted in 2005-2006 in northern aq qala (northern iran) to studycombine effects of waterlogging and soil salinity at different growth s...

  Abstract In most southern provinces of Iran, soil salinity is a growing problem, particularly in irrigated agricultural areas, and has been found to reduce wheat yield, dramatically. To investigate the effect of sodium chloride on two wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, four levels of salinity: 0, 4, 8 and 12 dS/m, were employed as a factorial experiment arranged in a randomized complet...