Final answer:
Terrestrial plants have adapted to salty soils by evolving filters in their roots to remove salt, pumping oxygen into their roots, and managing solute levels in their cells to prevent water loss and maintain turgor pressure.
Step-by-step explanation:
Terrestrial Plant Adaptations to Salty Soils
Terrestrial plants have developed several strategies to adapt to salty soils, particularly seen in halophytes, which are plants that can tolerate salty conditions.
These adaptations largely revolve around ways to manage and mitigate the detrimental effects of high salinity on plant physiology. One such adaptation involves the development of filters in the plant's roots, which serve to remove the salt from the water the plant absorbs.
Furthermore, some plants combat the low-oxygen conditions often found in saline soils by pumping oxygen into their roots, allowing for adequate respiration despite the challenging conditions.
These physiological adaptations are critically important in environments such as estuaries, where there are rapid variations in salinity due to the mixing of fresh water with salt water.
In addition to root adaptations, halophytic plants may also accumulate solutes in their cytosol to balance the external salt concentrations, preventing water loss and maintaining cell turgor.
Additionally, some terrestrial plants have evolved structural support and strategies to protect their reproductive processes from the challenges of the dry and salty terrestrial environment.