Effects and Impacts
Over time this process has caused the thin top-soil layers to become irreversibly salty, and no longer suited for agriculture. By 1999 an estimated 2.5 million hectares of land had become salinised since the introduction of European farming methods.
Currently, around 5.7 million hectares of land is classed as having 'high potential' for salinisation, which that number expected to rise to 17 million hectares by 2050.
High soil salt levels have dramatic impact on plant root zones, in both native vegetation as well as agricultural and pasture crops, natural wetlands and surrounding water ways. An increase in salt can decrease the ability of plants to absorb water through their roots via osmosis, cause leaf burn and necrosis through increased levels of sodium and chloride, and create nutrient and ionic imbalances, resulting in poor growth, and death. Salinity can also adversely affect infrastructure such as roads and buildings, and underground pipes and cables through oxidation.
Muehlenbeckia horrida subsp. abdita, commonly known as the Remote Thorny Lignum, is a critically endangered species due to its intolerance to salinity.
Read more about this topic: Salinity In Australia
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