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Sand Dune Conservation, Management and Restoration

Part of the book series: Coastal Research Library ((COASTALRL,volume 4))

Abstract

Sand dunes exist in a wide range of locations around the world. This book is largely concerned with coastal sand dunes that have had contact with the sea in the Holocene. The term Holocene literally means “completely recent”. It refers to the present geological era. It marks the end of the Pleistocene (period of the Ice Ages) and begins around 12,000 years ago. It is marked by a climatic warming phase, with rapidly rising sea levels and is the latest interstadial (warm period between glaciations) which last approximately 1.5 million years. It also concentrates on those sand dunes developed in temperate regions, mostly from the northern hemisphere. This chapter introduces the habitat, its origins, geomorphologic development and vegetation. Using the physical condition as a backdrop, it discusses sand dunes from an ecological point of view. In particular, it describes primary succession and subsequent development above upper beach levels, into what is essentially a terrestrial environment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Saltation derived from the Latin ‘saltus’ meaning leap.

  2. 2.

    Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have a symbiotic relationship with a host plant without which they cannot survive. They enhance a number of factors important to growth and survival (Smith and Read 2008).

  3. 3.

    Low-lying land, especially when moist or marshy. Often used as an alternative name for dune slacks outside Europe.

  4. 4.

    Blowouts occur when the destabilising forces create mobile sand within the body of the sand dune. Sand grains move under the influence of wind until the ground water surface is reached, creating a stable surface on which vegetation can develop.

  5. 5.

    An open dwarf, often spiny and aromatic shrub community about 60 cm and rarely >1 m high, also called phrygana.

  6. 6.

    A dense mostly evergreen shrub community >1 m high.

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  1. National Coastal Consultants, Brampton, Huntingdon, UK

    J. Patrick Doody

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Doody, J.P. (2013). Introduction. In: Sand Dune Conservation, Management and Restoration. Coastal Research Library, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4731-9_1

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