Psammosere
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A psammosere is the sequence of plant succession in stages, initiated on sand.[1] It is seral community, an ecological succession that began life on newly exposed coastal sand. Most common psammoseres are sand dune systems.
Sand dune systems[edit]
In a psammosere, the organisms closest to the sea will be pioneer species: halophytes (salt-tolerant species) such as littoral algae and glasswort with marram grass stabilising the dunes.
Progressing inland, many characteristic features change and help determine the natural succession of the dunes. For instance, the drainage slows down as the land becomes more compact and has better soils, and the pH drops as the proportion of seashell fragments reduces and the amount of humus increases. Sea purslane, sea lavender, meadow grass and heather eventually grade into a typical non-maritime terrestrial eco-system. The first trees (or pioneer trees) that appear are typically fast-growing trees such as pine, birch, willow or rowan. In turn these will be replaced by slow-growing, larger trees such as ash and oak. This is the climax community, defined as the point where a plant succession does not develop any further because it has reached equilibrium with the environment, in particular the climate.
Effect on pH[edit]
In an idealised coastal psammosere model, at the seaward edge of the sand dune the pH of the soil is typically alkaline/neutral with a pH of 7.0/8.0 particularly where shell fragments provide a significant component of the sand. Tracking inland across the dunes a podsol develops with a pH of 5.0/ 4.0 followed by mature podsols at the climax with a pH of 3.5 - 4.5.
Human effects[edit]
Psammosere succession is also extremely vulnerable to human activities. At beaches, footpaths over dunes will trample grass, creating exposed sand. This exposed sand can be blown away very easily, leading to the roots becoming exposed, leading to neighbouring plants dying. This creates blowouts, which can set back the Psammosere.[2]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "psammosere". Oxford Reference. doi:10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100351919. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ Calvão, Teresa; Fernanda Pessoa, Maria; Cebola Lidon, Fernando (2013), Impact of human activities on coastal vegetation – A review (PDF), p. 7
External links[edit]
- Case study of a psammosere Archived 2010-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
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