Chapter 11
Restoration of Coastal Sand Dunes
for Conservation of Biodiversity: The
Israeli Experience
Pua Bar (Kutiel)
11.1 Introduction
The Mediterranean coastal sand dunes in Israel stretch along 190 km, whereas their
width at the south is about 7 km and narrows in the north to about 1 km (Fig. 11.1).
The sediment originates from the Nile Delta, which is carried by the sea currents,
deposited on the coast, and then blown inland by the wind. The common wind
direction is south-west and the wind energy, as expressed by the drift potential index
(DPI), which is proportional to the sand transport (Fryberger 1979), is 147.
According to Fryberger’s classification, 147 DPI is a very low wind energy environment, and is thus favorable for the stabilization of sand dunes. Therefore, the
dunes at present are under a stabilization process. However, mobile sand dunes are
still found alongside stabilized ones, whereas more than a half of the coastal sand
dunes area is composed of semi-stabilized dunes and only about 20 % of mobile
dunes. The process of stabilization, which can be considered a natural one, causes
significant geomorphic and ecological changes that are expressed in changes of
landscape features (fewer mobile dunes and more semi-stabilized and stabilized
dunes with perennial vegetation coverage between 30 and 70 %) (Tsoar and
Blumberg 2002), biodiversity (a shift of flora and fauna composition from xeric to
mesic assemblages) (Kutiel et al. 2000a; Perry 2008; Ramot 2007), and reduction in
sand-dwelling organisms (psammophiles) characteristic of mobile sand dunes, some
of which are endemic either only to Israel or to the eastern Mediterranean coast—the
Levant (Kutiel 2001; Kutiel et al. 2000a; Ramot 2007).
Two-thirds of the population of Israel live along the coast, as is true in much of
the world and particularly along the Mediterranean Sea (van der Meulen and
P. Bar (Kutiel) (&)
Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev, P.O. Box 653 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
e-mail: kutiel@exchange.bgu.ac.il
M. L. Martínez et al. (eds.), Restoration of Coastal Dunes, Springer Series
on Environmental Management, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-33445-0_11,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
173
Restoration of Coastal Sand Dunes
for Conservation of Biodiversity: The
Israeli Experience
Pua Bar (Kutiel)
11.1 Introduction
The Mediterranean coastal sand dunes in Israel stretch along 190 km, whereas their
width at the south is about 7 km and narrows in the north to about 1 km (Fig. 11.1).
The sediment originates from the Nile Delta, which is carried by the sea currents,
deposited on the coast, and then blown inland by the wind. The common wind
direction is south-west and the wind energy, as expressed by the drift potential index
(DPI), which is proportional to the sand transport (Fryberger 1979), is 147.
According to Fryberger’s classification, 147 DPI is a very low wind energy environment, and is thus favorable for the stabilization of sand dunes. Therefore, the
dunes at present are under a stabilization process. However, mobile sand dunes are
still found alongside stabilized ones, whereas more than a half of the coastal sand
dunes area is composed of semi-stabilized dunes and only about 20 % of mobile
dunes. The process of stabilization, which can be considered a natural one, causes
significant geomorphic and ecological changes that are expressed in changes of
landscape features (fewer mobile dunes and more semi-stabilized and stabilized
dunes with perennial vegetation coverage between 30 and 70 %) (Tsoar and
Blumberg 2002), biodiversity (a shift of flora and fauna composition from xeric to
mesic assemblages) (Kutiel et al. 2000a; Perry 2008; Ramot 2007), and reduction in
sand-dwelling organisms (psammophiles) characteristic of mobile sand dunes, some
of which are endemic either only to Israel or to the eastern Mediterranean coast—the
Levant (Kutiel 2001; Kutiel et al. 2000a; Ramot 2007).
Two-thirds of the population of Israel live along the coast, as is true in much of
the world and particularly along the Mediterranean Sea (van der Meulen and
P. Bar (Kutiel) (&)
Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev, P.O. Box 653 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
e-mail: kutiel@exchange.bgu.ac.il
M. L. Martínez et al. (eds.), Restoration of Coastal Dunes, Springer Series
on Environmental Management, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-33445-0_11,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
173