The importance of disturbance and environmental stress on sand dune vegetation included in the Roman Coast State Nature Reserve

Sand dune species presence was analyzed across two areas along the Latium coast at different anthropogenic disturbance levels. Significant variations in species distribution over the gradient from the water-edge toward the inland between Ostia (O) and Marina di Palidoro (P) included in the “Roman Coastal State Nature Reserve” (Italy) were observed. The species colonize O site, on an average, at 79 m from the water-edge and plant density is 40.8±9.9 plants m-2 while in P site, species colonize the dune at 17 m from the water-edge for a length of 46 m toward the inland and plant density is 21.5±16.1 plants m-2. The results on the whole highlight a larger species distribution along the gradient from the water-edge toward the inland in P site compared to O site where, on the contrary, plants exclusively colonize the inner dune area where the Mediterranean maquis begins due to the strong human disturbance which causes the foredune to become flat. Nevertheless, the presence of the most important autoctonous sand dune species (on an average, 15.3±0.5 species) can provide information for restoring the perturbed dune areas when preparing management strategies.