Endemic Sand Dune Vegetation of the Northwest Iberian Peninsula: Diversity, Dynamics, and Significance for Bioindication and Monitoring of Coastal Landscapes

Abstract

Abstract Coastal areas are sensitive systems suffering both natural and anthropic pressures. Specifically, coastal sand dune dynamics is related with observable modifications in plant communities, and this relationship is being pointed out in recent years as a monitoring tool in littoral areas. Plant community types, with a relatively stable floristic composition related to specific ecologic conditions (“plant associations”), provide a suitable tool for bioindication within monitoring processes and in the management of littoral areas. In this regard, recent bio-geologic studies performed in dune systems of Southwest Europe allowed the identification of a number of specific bioindicators for both mobile and interior dunes. In Northwest Iberian Peninsula, sand dune vegetation is distinguished by its transitional character between typical Atlantic and Mediterranean vegetation types, and its originality is still enhanced by the occurrence of narrow endemic species and by the fact that most vegetation types ar...