Coastal dune flora, Nallavadu village, Puducherry, India

Abstract

Coastal sand dunes (CSD) are sensitive and fragile ecosystems with variety of specific floral species. Though there are few confined studies on coastal sand dunes in temperate regions, the coastal dunes of tropics, especially the Indian coramandal coast has received scanty attention. Hence, a detailed vegetation survey of 10 belt transects (5 × 100m) along coastal dune in December 2008 was done. A total of 41 species belonging to 35 genera and 20 families were identified at different distances from the shoreline towards inland where various edaphic factors decline facilitating more floral colonization. Thus, the coastal dune systems are rich and diverse in their floral composition, even over a small area. CSD constitute a variety of habitats and gather vital ecological and economic importance. Such unique sensitive systems have to be protected from habitat degradation in order to protect their native diversity and ecological functioning.