The primary aim of the journal is to enhance communication between and among scientists concerned with saline environments. Integration is intended to foster a deeper understanding of these critical environments world-wide, and of the halophilic and halotolerant organisms which inhabit them, as well as the underlying fundamental processes operating in them. Integration of knowledge at various levels is the hallmark of the systems biology approach. Such an approach permits information from interdisciplinary studies, from genetics and genomics, through physiology and biochemistry, to ecology and environmental biology, to be considered together, and sets the stage for predictive modelling of systems.
The environments of concern to Saline Systems include both coastal and inland regions, including natural lakes, marshes, springs, lagoons, and estuaries, and solar panes and other evaporitic and arid environments, and also their diverse micro- and macro-flora and -fauna. Specific approaches and research areas of interest include (1) the genomics, molecular biology, and environmental biology of halophilic and halotolerant organisms; (2) the limnology of salt lakes including microbial ecology, biogeochemical cycling, paleolimnology, and trophic and ecosystem dynamics; (3) the biodiversity, conservation, and resource management of saline environments; and (4) biotechnological applications of saline environments, including aquaculture.
The expertise of the editorial board of Saline Systems covers the entire scope of the journal. The editorial board membership includes experts in the chemistry and biology of saline environments, including general limnology and biogeography, nutrient cycling, ecological modelling, and biostatistics, biology, taxonomy and phylogeny of halophilic archaea and bacteria, biology and ecology of halotolerant eukaryotes, including algae, fungi, protists, invertebrates, and plants, biology of Artemia, crustaceans, fish, and waterbirds, genomics and postgenomics of micro- and macroflora and fauna of saline environments, and aquatic conservation biology.