Dynamics and Stability of Plant Communities in Sand Dunes

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 4732

Special Issue Editor

The Department of Environmental, Geoinformatics, and Urban Planning Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Interests: plant ecology; disturbances; coastal sand dunes; plant management and conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sand dunes exhibit interesting forms and dynamics. They cover vast areas of the world's deserts (∼20%) but are also found along seashores, streams, and semi-arid climates, in glacial outwash areas, and even in the tropics. The dune ecosystems are usually associated with unique biological and ecological activity. However, they evolved under limiting environmental conditions such as substrate mobility, high soil surface temperatures, low soil nutrient contents, low moisture retention, and salt spray. As a result, plants developed numerous adaptations to withstand all these limitations. Significant differences follow any change in the environmental conditions in plant communities, diversity, and spatial patterns. Therefore, dune ecosystems are considered sensitive indicators of climate change and human disturbances. They may become active during periods of severe drought or increased temperature and evaporation, or due to land-use changes. Plant (and biocrust) cover is the primary factor limiting aeolian sediment transport. Therefore, the onset of mobilization occurs when the vegetation decreases below a critical level. Conversely, vegetation growth can fix shifting dunes. Indeed, every fixed dune was once active and only became fixed because of climate change or anthropogenic fixation.

The purpose of the Special Issue is to incorporate ten articles that will present new findings and insights based on a long-term database that also supports models that can significantly predict the future of dunes in different parts of the globe considering the environmental changes in the era of the Anthropocene.

Prof. Dr. Pua Bar Kutiel
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • climate change
  • sand dunes
  • disturbances
  • diversity
  • fixation
  • immobilization
  • plant communities
  • plant invasion
  • spatial changes
  • spatial patterns
  • stability
  • temporal changes
  • ecosystem services

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1925 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Benefits of Cenchrus fungigraminus Residual Roots Improved the Quality and Microbial Diversity of Rhizosphere Sandy Soil through Cellulose Degradation in the Ulan Buh Desert, Northwest China
by Jing Li, Lili Zhang, Shikui Yu, Zongzhi Luo, Dewei Su, Dan Zheng, Hengyu Zhou, Jieyi Zhu, Xingsheng Lin, Hailing Luo, Christopher Rensing, Zhanxi Lin and Dongmei Lin
Plants 2024, 13(5), 708; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13050708 - 01 Mar 2024
Viewed by 559
Abstract
Long-term plant residue retention can effectively replenish soil quality and fertility. In this study, we collected rhizosphere soil from the residual roots of annual Cenchrus fungigraminus in the Ulan Buh Desert over the past 10 years. The area, depth, and length of these [...] Read more.
Long-term plant residue retention can effectively replenish soil quality and fertility. In this study, we collected rhizosphere soil from the residual roots of annual Cenchrus fungigraminus in the Ulan Buh Desert over the past 10 years. The area, depth, and length of these roots decreased over time. The cellulose content of the residual roots was significantly higher in the later 5 years (2018–2022) than the former 5 years (2013–2017), reaching its highest value in 2021. The lignin content of the residual roots did not differ across samples except in 2015 and reached its highest level in 2021. The total sugar of the residual roots in 2022 was 227.88 ± 30.69 mg·g−1, which was significantly higher than that in other years. Compared to the original sandy soil, the soil organic matter and soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) contents were 2.17–2.41 times and 31.52–35.58% higher in the later 3 years (2020–2022) and reached the highest values in 2020. The residual roots also significantly enhanced the soil carbon stocks from 2018–2022. Soil dehydrogenase, nitrogenase, and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosidase (S-NAG) were significantly affected from 2019–2022. The rhizosphere soil community richness and diversity of the bacterial and fungal communities significantly decreased with the duration of the residual roots in the sandy soil, and there was a significant difference for 10 years. Streptomyces, Bacillus, and Sphigomonas were the representative bacteria in the residual root rhizosphere soil, while Agaricales and Panaeolus were the enriched fungal genera. The distance-based redundancy analysis and partial least square path model results showed that the duration of residual roots in the sandy soil, S-NAG, and SMBC were the primary environmental characteristics that shaped the microbial community. These insights provide new ideas on how to foster the exploration of the use of annual herbaceous plants for sandy soil improvement in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics and Stability of Plant Communities in Sand Dunes)
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14 pages, 7406 KiB  
Article
Spatial Heterogeneity Effects on Meta-Community Stability of Annual Plants from a Coastal Dune Ecosystem
by Pua Bar (Kutiel), Ofir Katz and Michael Dorman
Plants 2023, 12(11), 2151; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12112151 - 29 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 730
Abstract
Spatial heterogeneity affects plant community composition and diversity. It is particularly noticeable in annual plant communities, which vary in space and time over short distances and periods, forming meta-communities at the regional scale. This study was conducted at the coastal dune ecosystem in [...] Read more.
Spatial heterogeneity affects plant community composition and diversity. It is particularly noticeable in annual plant communities, which vary in space and time over short distances and periods, forming meta-communities at the regional scale. This study was conducted at the coastal dune ecosystem in Nizzanim nature reserve, Israel. This study aimed to analyze the effect of the spatial heterogeneity, which is expressed in differences in the fixation levels of the dunes and patches outside and beneath the dominant Artemisia monosperma shrubs, on the characteristics of the annual plant meta-community and its temporal stability, considering the mechanisms that may affect it. Thirteen dunes were studied: three mobile, seven semi-fixed, and three fixed dunes. Data on the annual plants were collected during the spring seasons of 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016. For each dune, 72 quadrats of 40×40 cm were sampled yearly, with 24 quadrats per slope aspect (windward, leeward, and crest), 12 under the shrub, and 12 in the open. The results indicate that the transition from mobile dunes through semi-fixed to fixed dunes is characterized by an increase in annual plant cover, species richness, species diversity, changes in plant communities, and stability driven by the asynchrony of species population fluctuations. Asynchrony affected the stability of the meta-community of this ecosystem in patches beneath the shrubs but not in the open patches. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics and Stability of Plant Communities in Sand Dunes)
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18 pages, 7701 KiB  
Article
Warmer Temperature and Spatiotemporal Dynamics during Primary Succession on Tropical Coastal Dunes
by M. Luisa Martínez, Octavio Pérez-Maqueo, Gabriela Vázquez and Rosario Landgrave
Plants 2022, 11(22), 3029; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11223029 - 09 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1126
Abstract
Coastal dunes are sensitive indicators of climate change: it is expected that higher precipitation and warmer temperature will promote vegetation growth and sand stabilization. Alternatively, dunes may become active during severe droughts, which would reduce plant cover and increase sand mobility. Consequently, it [...] Read more.
Coastal dunes are sensitive indicators of climate change: it is expected that higher precipitation and warmer temperature will promote vegetation growth and sand stabilization. Alternatively, dunes may become active during severe droughts, which would reduce plant cover and increase sand mobility. Consequently, it is relevant to explore community shifts and self-organization processes to better understand how coastal dunes vegetation will respond to these projected changes. Primary succession allows the exploration of community assembly and reorganization processes. We focused on three environmental variables (bare sand, temperature, and precipitation) and five successional groups (facilitators, colonizers, sand binders, nucleators, and competitors). For 25 years (from 1991 to 2016), species turnover was monitored in 150 permanent plots (4 × 4 m) placed on an initially mobile dune system located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The spatiotemporal dynamics observed during primary succession were consistent with the facilitation nucleation model. As late colonizers grew and expanded, psammophytes became locally extinct. The spatial patterns revealed that ecological succession did not occur evenly on the dunes. In addition, the increased mean yearly temperature during the last decades seemed to be associated with the accelerated increment in plant cover and species richness, which had not been registered before in Mexico. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics and Stability of Plant Communities in Sand Dunes)
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17 pages, 5774 KiB  
Article
Current State of Ammophila arenaria (Marram Grass) Distribution in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and the Possible Effect of the Grass on the Dune System Dynamics
by Roy A. Lubke
Plants 2022, 11(17), 2260; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11172260 - 30 Aug 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1480
Abstract
The principal aim of this paper is to show that marram grass is not an invasive alien in South Africa although it affects the dune dynamics as a useful pioneer species in the dune successional process. The historical perspective of marram introduction as [...] Read more.
The principal aim of this paper is to show that marram grass is not an invasive alien in South Africa although it affects the dune dynamics as a useful pioneer species in the dune successional process. The historical perspective of marram introduction as a dune stabiliser and the studies and conclusions reached from our European Union funded project, INVASS, in the 1990s and early 2000s is presented. Although these studies showed that marram was non-invasive, this was not clearly carried through to the authorities, and the use of the grass as a dune stabiliser was limited without a special permit. This prompted a survey of the current situation of marram on dune sites in the Eastern Cape. Along with earlier (1980s) data on the dunes, 69 relevés with 66 species abundance from sites along the Eastern Cape shoreline were assembled. These data were analysed with Detrended Correspondence Analysis to show the relationships of the samples (relevés) and species in a 2-dimensional scatter diagram. The survey showed that there are four dune sites where marram grass is no longer present, due to either marram being out of its climatic range, erosion of sand under storm conditions which made the habitat unsuitable, or in one case where marram simply disappeared. Marram often remains in other sites where three to five dune pioneer species were recorded. On some dunes, although marram is the most abundant dune pioneer, it is never dominant in the dune environment but has a presence of as much as 75% at any site. The eight pioneer species are widely dispersed on the DCA scatter diagram, while the shrub species characterising the Coastal Scrub are tightly clustered, showing that all the pioneer dune communities behave similarly in the dune successional series. The conclusion from these studies is that marram grass does not always persist in the dune systems. If marram does persist, it does not compete and behaves identically to the indigenous species as a dune pioneer. These studies show that marram grass is a non-invasive species that can be successfully used in dune stabilisation on Cape dunes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics and Stability of Plant Communities in Sand Dunes)
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