halophilic "dunaliella" species such as "d. salina" are notable for living all around the world in hypersaline environments such as salterns, salt lakes, and crystallizer ponds. some of these are at lower salt concentration (~0.05m,) and some are at, or very close to, the saturation levels of nacl (~5.5m). its ability to flourish in such a wide range of salt concentrations allows it outcompete most other organisms in its habitat, since their tolerances are often not as high. though the genus and its species have been studied for over a hundred years, very is little is known about their exact ecological dynamic with specific environmental conditions and with other organisms. they are mostly marine, however there are few freshwater species of "dunaliella" that have even less information on them in terms of ecology.  it is known, however, that in hypersaline ecosystems, "dunaliella" is a critical primary producer that organisms, such as filter feeders and a variety of planktonic organisms, sustain themselves.  the organisms can depend almost completely or wholly on the carbon that the photosynthetic alga fixes. notably, it is important food for the brine plankton "artemia", so much so that increases in "artemia" populations often correlate with decreases in "dunaliella" populations.