Coastal dune vegetation: disturbance, recovery and spatial pattern

The ecological state of sea coasts is often critical worldwide, and in Europe most of the well conserved coastal dune areas are to date under protection. An increasing human impact in the near future along with global climate change could act on sand dune species changing their tolerance to stress factors. Our results give information on the biodiversity of the Tyrrhenian coast developing near Rome. The study underlines that human perturbation have altered the natural vegetation causing the disappearance of the typical dune vegetation bands. The spatial pattern of the species and their adaptive capability is attested by their ability to move back along the gradient from the water-edge toward the inland. Plants colonize the inner patch where microclimate and soil conditions are more favourable. The conservation of coastal areas depends on the maintenance of native species and their ability to compete with alien species. The presence of the most important autoctonous species and their moving ability along the gradient from the fore-dune to the inland can provide information for restoring the perturbed dune areas. In particular, A. arenaria could have a positive effect on sand dune stabilization. A sustainable management of the coastal areas under study should emphasized that species recovery capacity depend mostly on the undisturbed sand deposition in the fore-dunes by the limitation of human trampling, use of mechanical means and infrastructure development.