A phytosociological and phytogeographical survey of the coastal vegetation of western North America: beach and dune vegetation from Baja California to Alaska

Abstract

Questions: What is the floristic composition of the plant communities that inhabit the beaches and dunes of the Pacific coast of North America? What are their ecological relationships in the zonal and successional gradients typical of coastal dune systems? Does climate affect the latitudinal distribution of the azonal vegetation? What other environmental factors influence their distribution on the regional or local scale? Location: Pacific coast of North America, from Baja California (23102 0 N) to Cook Inlet, Alaska (61130 0 N).Methods: A total of 1730 phytosociological relevés were obtained by sampling 279 coastal localities. In all localities, zonation was interpreted by considering transects from the shoreline inland. Through traditional phytosociological tabular classification and average linkage clustering, relevés were syntaxonomically classified. Syntaxa, supported by fidelity calculations, are described and interpreted according to their phytogeographical distribution, their relationships with macrobioclimate (MB) and bioclimates (BIO), and to the topographic and ecological gradients typical of coastal sandy areas.Results: Our bioclimate analysis served to define four MB and 11 BIO, each characterized by a particular type of potential natural vegetation. By floristically analysing the 522 vascular taxa detected, these were related to 16 phytogeographical elements. Syntaxonomically, the communities observed comprise 74 vegetation types, 70 of which are considered associations characterized by their diagnostic combination of species. These associations were classified into 24 alliances, 16 orders and 12 phytosociological classes. Two new classes, five new orders, 10 new alliances and 34 new associations are presented. Some syntaxa have been revised or validated.

Vegetation survey: a new focus for Applied Vegetation Science

“…The authors use the Braun‐Blanquet approach, which they successfully applied in the previous project of the Circumpolar Arctic vegetation map (Walker et al 2005). Another application of the Braun‐Blanquet approach to North American vegetation is represented by the paper of Peinado et al (2011), who collected an extensive data set on vegetation of the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California and proposed a comprehensive classification scheme for this vegetation. The approach of the US National Vegetation Classification is demonstrated by Matthews et al (2011) in a study focused on alluvial forests of North Carolina.…”

OSLsignal resetting in young deposits determined with a pulsed photon‐stimulated luminescence (PPSL) unit

“…Beaches in this area are wave-dominated and sediments are continuously reworked in the foreshore. Therefore, in the backshore area winds rework loose sand and form beach dune ridges (Peinado et al 2011). 2C).…”

“…Winds along the Peninsula are strong enough to mobilize the sand from foreshore to backshore, whereas beyond the berm waves are unable to wash grains, which only are mobilized during intense and exceptional storms. Therefore, in the backshore area winds rework loose sand and form beach dune ridges (Peinado et al 2011). Very young deposits compose both sand beaches and dunes as waves and winds are almost continuously reworking grains.…”

La investigación científica sobre dunas costeras de México: origen, evolución y retos

“…Por otro lado, las DC del norte de la península de Yucatán también se han estudiado intensamente por la ubicación de centros de investigación en las inmediaciones; por ejemplo, Centro de Investigaciones de Yucatán (CICY), Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY) o del extinto Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones sobre Recursos Bióticos (Inireb). Aunque la ecología de las DC del Pacífico norte-noroeste parece que ha sido estudiada, en realidad se debe solo a 3 estudios regionales (Johnson, 1977y Peinado et al, 2011. El difícil acceso a este litoral no ha ayudado a la investigación intensiva del mismo.…”

“…Las especies de plantas pioneras de las familias Leguminosas y Poáceas son las más abundantes; destacan C. chamaecristoides, C. rosea, I. pes-caprae, S. virginicus, P. lindenii y S. portulacastrum como las especies más estudiadas. El Pacífico norte cobra importancia por la presencia de especies restringidas y endémicas y por su heterogeneidad ambiental Peinado, Aguirre, Delgadillo y Macías, 2007;Peinado et al, 2011). De acuerdo con Moreno-Casasola et al (1998), por sus características tropicales las regiones del golfo de México, mar Caribe y Pacífico sur comparten un gran número de especies; sin embargo, el Pacífico sur es la región con menor número de investigaciones sobre DC del país.…”