Psammosere succession Flashcards
What are the 5 main stages of sand dunes?
- strandline and foredune - young dunes
- Yellow dune - mobile dunes
- Grey dune and dune slack - semi fixed
- dune scrub - fixed-dune grassland
- woodland -
What is the name of the final successor?
Climatic climax
What is the name of the first plant coming from the ocean?
Pioneer species
Why do dunes turn from yellow to grey?
More plants grow making the sand more populated meaning there is less sand showing.
What are the main plants in swanage?
Marram Grass, water mint and bog cotton
Why are sand dunes a fragile ecosystem
Because they are easily broken up through recreation.
Where is the general distribution of sandunes in the UK
All around the coasts, however, less on the south and southeast side
What is Biotic and Abiotic.
Biotic - plant communities
Abiotic - environmental conditions.
What are the two types of succession
Primary - Occurring in lifeless areas, where the soil is incapable of sustaining life
Secondary - where an ecosystem that has previously existed has been removed
What is zonation
variation of species or communities over a particular area.
Why are there no plants in the strandline
High tides or storm tides leave the sand inhospitable for plant growth. Due to it being Dry, salty, unstable and lacking nutrients
What happens the further you go inland to
1. pH
2. % Calcium carbonate
3. % Humus
4. Soil colour
- pH - Decreases (More acidic)
- % Calcium Carbonate - Decreases from 10 to >0.1
- % humus - increases from <1 to >40
- Soil colour - Yellow - Grey - Brown
What occurrs at fixed dunes
- Vegetation forms a cover on sand, so it is ‘fixed’.
- Still a stressful environment with low nutrient status.
- Dunes may have grazing and trampling
- organic layer has started to form on the soil surface
- Wild Thyme grows if grazed by rabbits
- Creeping willow if left alone
- lack of grazing causes woody plants which will form scrub
Dune slack
- Areas between sandy hills may be damp or have standing water
- Can have lime-loving species or can be rich with rarities like Natterjack Toad
Purpose of sand dune management
Sand dune development is largely about increasing the stabilisation of loose sand.
