ABSTRACT
The salt marsh habitat represents a very significant natural resource. A number of efforts have been made to preserve and reconstruct salt marsh communities, using the dominant halophytic species for their revegetation. Many inland and coastal salt marsh and salt desert habitats have been utilized for the grazing of cattle and sheep, and the vegetation of some of these marshes has been greatly modified by the effects of long-term grazing. The floristic composition of most plant communities that occur in salt marshes is low when compared with adjacent vegetation from nonsaline habitats. A holistic approach is necessary to determine the nature of the responses of plants to saline habitats. Climatic and edaphic factors also play a significant role in determining the success of halophytes in a particular habitat. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
