Potential Salt Tolerant Species Located in Various Parts of the World

Abstract

Understanding the spatial distribution of salinity and plant species is crucial to manage and maintain sustainability and to reclaim areas affected by salinity. In this study, we modeled the global distribution of soil salinity using inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation on the WOSiS salinity database. The predicted global map was used to extract salinity values and confidence intervals at species locations, through which 243 species were predicted in median locations affected by high to severe salinity. The Amaranthaceae family contributed the highest number of salt-tolerant species with 30 species (upto 12%), followed by Poaceae (21 species), Fabaceae (20 species), with 191 out of the 243 listed species having some salt tolerance trait and 96 having root microbiome interaction. Species such as Atriplex portulacoides, Eryngium maritimum, Dittrichia viscosa, Phragmites australis, and Anagallis arvensis have high chances of establishment in such harsh environments, given the presence of salt-tolerant traits and root microbiome interaction assisting in nutrient availability. We conclude that spatial interpolation techniques can be a useful tool to shortlist species for the economic bioremediation and reclamation of highly saline areas around the world, which is in correspondence with the goals set by the UN-Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.