Given that this recovery was the result of only 4 years of fencing, particularly
striking was its speed. This capacity for rapid recovery is in fact a typical feature
of many coastal dune plants, which are often well adapted to high levels of stress
and disturbance (Wilson and Sykes 1999; Carboni et al. 2011), and are thus able to
recover quickly once a source of disturbance has been limited. Furthermore, in
addition to proving its efficacy as a passive recovery method, fencing is both time
and cost effective. Indeed the fences are easy to put in place (a day’s work with
three employees), relatively inexpensive (in our case we calculate around US$700
for erecting the fence), and require little maintenance work, thus allowing a better
allocation of resources (economic and employee time). Having said this, based on
this 4-year study, it is difficult to estimate how long it would take to achieve cover
and richness levels comparable to relatively undisturbed coastal dune habitats, or
even whether or not a complete recovery could ever be possible. Also, even though
fencing seems to have improved the spatial structuring of the plant assemblage, it
is unclear whether the typical foredune habitats will be more easily identifiable in
the future. Therefore, a long-term approach with repeat measurements over many
different years is required to confirm our findings.
Because of the important functional role that plants play in dune environments,
assessing their ability to recover following human disturbance is an important task
for the restoration and conservation of coastal dune ecosystems (Emery and
Rudgers 2010).
Careful management of coastal areas is needed to develop and implement
strategies that reconcile human recreation demands with conservation and restoration priorities. In this context, the results of this study are encouraging for
managers and stakeholders as they show how a cost-effective and passive practice,
such as fencing, can help restore ecosystem functioning within a relatively short
time-frame. Thus, even though our results should be corroborated by long-term
studies, we believe passive recovery to be a useful tool for managers pursuing
conservation goals in Mediterranean coastal dune systems, especially if implemented alongside other restoration practices.
To conclude, the present study demonstrates the suitability of the diachronic
approach to monitoring threatened coastal habitats. We have demonstrated before
that most of them are habitats of conservational interest at a European level
(European Commission 2007). As human activities in coastal areas will probably
intensify in the next few years, multitemporal monitoring should be strongly
recommended and encouraged throughout European coastal dune areas.
References
Acosta A, Blasi C, Stanisci A (2000) Spatial connectivity and boundary patterns in coastal dune
vegetation in the Circeo National Park, Central Italy. J Veg Sci 11:149–154
Acosta A, Stanisci A, Ercole S, Blasi C (2003) Sandy coastal landscape of the Lazio region
(Central Italy). Phytocoenologia 33:715–726
196
A. T. R. Acosta et al.
striking was its speed. This capacity for rapid recovery is in fact a typical feature
of many coastal dune plants, which are often well adapted to high levels of stress
and disturbance (Wilson and Sykes 1999; Carboni et al. 2011), and are thus able to
recover quickly once a source of disturbance has been limited. Furthermore, in
addition to proving its efficacy as a passive recovery method, fencing is both time
and cost effective. Indeed the fences are easy to put in place (a day’s work with
three employees), relatively inexpensive (in our case we calculate around US$700
for erecting the fence), and require little maintenance work, thus allowing a better
allocation of resources (economic and employee time). Having said this, based on
this 4-year study, it is difficult to estimate how long it would take to achieve cover
and richness levels comparable to relatively undisturbed coastal dune habitats, or
even whether or not a complete recovery could ever be possible. Also, even though
fencing seems to have improved the spatial structuring of the plant assemblage, it
is unclear whether the typical foredune habitats will be more easily identifiable in
the future. Therefore, a long-term approach with repeat measurements over many
different years is required to confirm our findings.
Because of the important functional role that plants play in dune environments,
assessing their ability to recover following human disturbance is an important task
for the restoration and conservation of coastal dune ecosystems (Emery and
Rudgers 2010).
Careful management of coastal areas is needed to develop and implement
strategies that reconcile human recreation demands with conservation and restoration priorities. In this context, the results of this study are encouraging for
managers and stakeholders as they show how a cost-effective and passive practice,
such as fencing, can help restore ecosystem functioning within a relatively short
time-frame. Thus, even though our results should be corroborated by long-term
studies, we believe passive recovery to be a useful tool for managers pursuing
conservation goals in Mediterranean coastal dune systems, especially if implemented alongside other restoration practices.
To conclude, the present study demonstrates the suitability of the diachronic
approach to monitoring threatened coastal habitats. We have demonstrated before
that most of them are habitats of conservational interest at a European level
(European Commission 2007). As human activities in coastal areas will probably
intensify in the next few years, multitemporal monitoring should be strongly
recommended and encouraged throughout European coastal dune areas.
References
Acosta A, Blasi C, Stanisci A (2000) Spatial connectivity and boundary patterns in coastal dune
vegetation in the Circeo National Park, Central Italy. J Veg Sci 11:149–154
Acosta A, Stanisci A, Ercole S, Blasi C (2003) Sandy coastal landscape of the Lazio region
(Central Italy). Phytocoenologia 33:715–726
196
A. T. R. Acosta et al.