Bidiversity in hypersaline environments:”Salt Pans”
Savita Kerkar
Dept of Biotechnology
Goa University
Hypersaline environments are ecosystems which support the existence of profuse microbial ife at high salt concentrations. No less intriguing is the adaptability of many halophiles,epecially those belonging to the domains: Bacteria and Eukarya,which display ahigh degree of versatility in their ability to rapidly adjust to changes in the osmotic pressure of their surrounding medium. With the increase in our understanding of the diversity of halophilic microorganisms,it has become clear that nature has devised an extensive variety of strategies to cope up with life in hypersaline environments. The basic knowledge accumulated on the properties of halophilic Archaea,Bacteria and Eukarya has led to the development of some interesting biotechnological applications, including use of their organic osmotic solutes as enzyme protectants, production of salt –resistant enzymes and use of certain Dunaliella strains for mass production of B-carotene. India is the 3rd worlds largest salt producer. Gujarat, Maharastra, Goa , Kerala, Tamil Nadu & Sundarbans are the main salt producers in India. India produces 10 million tone of salt per annum, however the production is decreasing. In Goa 25,000 metric tons of salt was produced annually upto 2002 with 200 operational salt pans.Presently only 16,000 metric tons is harvested. From a net exporter of salt ,now India is a net importer as the traditional salt industry is now on the verge of collapse. Salt pans act as sponges and absorb the pressure from the tides and thus protect the environment. It is our moral obligation to protect these existing endangered salt pan ecosystems and the diverse organisms.
