Coastal erosion, global sea-level rise, and the loss of sand dune plant habitats

Feagin, Rusty A.; Sherman, Douglas J.; Grant, William E.

doi:10.1890/1540-9295(2005)003[0359:cegsra]2.0.co;2

Cited by 243 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…Dunes support high ecological diversity and contain many endemic and endangered species due to their geomorphological and environmental heterogeneity (Powell 1981;Lichter 1998;Van der Maarel 2003). However, they are fragile ecosystems and suffer from many kinds of natural and anthropogenic disturbance including hurricanes, invasive species, global sea-level rise, urbanization, and improper management (Feagin et al 2005;Grunewald 2006;El Banna and Mahmoud 2008;Bonte and Maes 2008;Claudino-Sales et al 2008;Marchante et al 2008;Jackson and Cooper 2011;Provoost et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant community structure and response to disturbances on coastal dunes of Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2014

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Coastal dunes are complex and fragile ecosystems. The decrease in environmental stressors from sea to inland creates zonation patterns of habitats, which support high biodiversity. Although coastal dunes have been examined in primary succession studies for more than 100 years, invertebrates have received much less attention than other taxa. In this study, we examined ant community composition and its relationship with vegetation structure on dunes, and used ants as indicators to reveal the influence of anthropogenic disturbances on these habitats. Quadrat sampling, hand collecting, and beating plants were used to sample ants on coastal dunes fringing the northern Gulf of Mexico. Ants representing 44 species were found, with diversity and number of functional groups increasing from foredunes to backdunes. Bush areas of the backdunes supported a unique ant community. Ant diversity was correlated with plant richness, stem number, and plant cover, but the correlation was not consistent among habitats. Ant diversity was lower in degraded, young-planted, and re-built but not in old-planted sites. In addition, different types of disturbance changed the ant community and functional groups in different ways. Our study emphasizes the importance of protecting the whole dune system, especially the backdunes, which support high diversity but are often completely destroyed by urban development. Data from this research provides a benchmark to examine trajectories of coastal dune ecosystem degradation or recovery when exposed to natural or anthropogenic disturbances.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant community structure and response to disturbances on coastal dunes of Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2014

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“…The consequences of the erosion affect also the environment, because several habitats are endangered by coastal retreat [2]. For instance, coastal dunes are most affected by sediment loss from the beach, because wave run-up reaches higher distances on the backshore up to the base of the dunes [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Wireless Sensor Network Framework for Real-Time Monitoring of Height and Volume Variations on Sandy Beaches and Dunes

Pozzebon

Andreadis

Bertoni

et al. 2018

IJGI

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Abstract:In this paper, the authors describe the realization and testing of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) framework aiming at measuring, remotely and in real time, the level variations of the sand layer of sandy beaches or dunes. The proposed framework is based on an innovative low cost sensing structure, able to measure the level variations with a 5-cm degree of precision and to locally transfer the acquired data through the ZigBee protocol. The described sensor is integrated in a wider ZigBee wireless sensor network architecture composed of an array of sensors that, arranged according to a grid layout, can acquire the same data at different points, allowing the definition of a dynamic map of the area under study. The WSN is connected to a local Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) gateway that is in charge of data processing and transmission to a cloud infrastructure through a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) connection. Data are then stored in a MySQL database and made available any time and anywhere through the Internet. The proposed architecture has been tested in a laboratory, to analyze data acquisition, processing timing and power consumption and then in situ to prove the effectiveness of the system. The described infrastructure is expected to be integrated in a wider IoT architecture including different typologies of sensors, in order to create a multi-purpose tool for the study of coastal erosive processes.

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“…ation, store drinking water and shelter unique biodiversity (Everard et al, 2010). Coastal dunes and their services are threatened by climate-induced sea-level rise (Carter, 1991;Feagin et al, 2005;Keijsers et al, 2016). However, dunes also provide self-adapting systems of coastal protection, since the threat of sea-level rise can be mitigated by the development of new dunes.…”

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confidence: 99%

Exploring the contributions of vegetation and dune size to early dune development using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Dune development along highly dynamic land-sea boundaries is the result of interaction between vegetation and dune size with sedimentation and erosion processes. Disentangling the contribution of vegetation characteristics from that of dune size would improve predictions of nebkha dune development under a changing climate, but has proven difficult due to the scarcity of spatially continuous monitoring data.This study explored the contributions of vegetation and dune size to dune development for locations differing in shelter from the sea. We monitored a natural nebkha dune field of 8 ha, along the coast of the island Texel, the Netherlands, for 1 year using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with camera. After constructing a digital surface model and orthomosaic we derived for each dune (1) vegetation characteristics (species composition, vegetation density, and maximum vegetation height), (2) dune size (dune volume, area, and maximum height), (3) degree of shelter (proximity to other nebkha dunes and the sheltering by the foredune). Changes in dune volume over summer and winter were related to vegetation, dune size and degree of shelter.We found that a positive change in dune volume (dune growth) was linearly related to initial dune volume over summer but not over winter. Big dunes accumulated more sand than small dunes due to their larger surface area. Exposed dunes increased more in volume (0.81 % per dune per week) than sheltered dunes (0.2 % per dune per week) over summer, while the opposite occurred over winter. Vegetation characteristics did not significantly affect dune growth in summer, but did significantly affect dune growth in winter. Over winter, dunes dominated by Ammophila arenaria, a grass species with high vegetation density throughout the year, increased more in volume than dunes dominated by Elytrigia juncea, a grass species with lower vegetation density (0.43 vs. 0.42 (m 3 m −3 ) week −1 ). The effect of species was irrespective of dune size or distance to the sea.Our results show that dune growth in summer is mainly determined by dune size, whereas in winter dune growth was determined by vegetation type. In our study area the growth of exposed dunes was likely restricted by storm erosion, whereas growth of sheltered dunes was restricted by sand supply. Our results can be used to improve models predicting coastal dune development.

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Coastal erosion, global sea-level rise, and the loss of sand dune plant habitats

Cited by 243 publications

References 9 publications

Ant community structure and response to disturbances on coastal dunes of Gulf of Mexico

Ant community structure and response to disturbances on coastal dunes of Gulf of Mexico

A Wireless Sensor Network Framework for Real-Time Monitoring of Height and Volume Variations on Sandy Beaches and Dunes

Exploring the contributions of vegetation and dune size to early dune development using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging

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