9413039 Ungar Description: This project supports participation by a U.S. team of scientists in a joint seminar at the "International Symposium on High Salinity Tolerant Plants" which is to be held from December 12-16, 1994 at the University of Karachi, in Karachi, Pakistan. Topics to be presented at the plenary lectures include: the use of halophytes in arid zones; mechanisms used by halophytes for overcoming salinity; population biology of halophytes; genetic diversity in mangroves; mechanism of salinity tolerance in mangroves; genetic transformation of halopytes as a technique for improvement of crops; salt tolerance of lacustrine and coastal varieties of dune plants; mechanism of salt tolerance in herbaceous halophytes; and seed bank ecology. The symposium will also include submitted papers from some 30 countries. A proceedings of the refereed papers and other presentations will be published after the symposium and will be available in the U.S., Pakistan, and other countries. Scope: The project supports a symposium in an area of major importance to many countries that have large irrigation systems, including the U.S. and Pakistan. Research in this field combines several important scientific disciplines including biophysics, biochemistry, genetics, as well as engineering and irrigation practices. Scientists from Pakistan, who have made significant advances in experimenting with salinity-tolerant plant varieties in the last two decades, will be able to share their insight in the field. Participants from the U.S. and from the U.K., Germany and Australia will provide expertise in the basic mechanisms leading to the desired salinity-tolerance in plant varieties. The exchange of information during the symposium should lead to better collaboration and integration of results, and possibly to significant improvements, worldwide, in understanding how to increase crop yields in salt-affected or marginal lands. ***
