Saltmarsh has a very important place in the history of ecology. Some of the earliest field courses involved extensive study of saltmarshes; early volumes of the New Phytologist, Journal of Ecology and Ecology contain papers describing saltmarshes and introductory studies on physiological ecology. The ritual saltmarsh excursion is still an essential part of the curriculum in many courses, at both secondary and tertiary levels. While this educational role partly reflects the importance of tradition, it is also an acknowledgement of the enormous opportunities for demonstrating ecological phenomena provided by the saltmarsh ecosystem. In the 1960s, saltmarshes were the venue for some important studies which developed systems ecology; in the 1970s and 1980s, studies on the physiology for salt tolerance in halophytes have been one of the most active areas in the development of ecophysiology. Research is being carried out today on many aspects of the biology and ecology of saltmarsh in many parts of the world.

Despite the great number of studies on saltmarshes, there is still much we do not know. Some topics, such as the study of nutrient and energy cycles, provide great challenges and will require interdisciplinary collaboration. Others, although equally important to our understanding of the total saltmarsh resource, are more easily studied. For example, in many parts of the world, there is little documentation of the distribution of marshes or of their species composition.