They too serve who tolerate and survive: the need to study halotolerant fungi to appreciate their role in saline ecosystems

Abstract

Saline habitats support both halophilic fungi (having an obligate requirement for salt for their growth) and halotolerant fungi (not needing salt for growth but capable of growth in the presence of salt). Halophilic fungi are exceptional since they are restricted to hypersaline habitats and there is not enough information about these fungi of various types of saline environments. However, due to their co-occurrence with halophilic microorganisms and their wide range of salt tolerance, the ecosystem services provided by halotolerant fungi in saline environments require attention. The fact that halotolerant fungi do not exist as mere inactive resting structures and that they tolerate different strengths of external salt stress are indicative of their sustained ecological roles in saline environments as well as in normal environments experiencing extreme salinity conditions with some regularity. Here, we underscore the need to study halotolerant fungi with more zeal to understand their ecological roles in saline ecosystems.