Chapter 17
The Value of Coastal Sand Dunes
as a Measure to Plan an Optimal Policy
for Invasive Plant Species: The Case
of the Acacia saligna at the Nizzanim LTER
Coastal Sand Dune Nature Reserve, Israel
David Lehrer, Nir Becker and Pua Kutiel (Bar)
17.1 Introduction
The introduction of Acacia saligna into Israel by the British Mandate and later on by
the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) forestation department began at the start of the 20th
century and continued for over 70 years. Because of its rapid growth rate over a broad
ecological range and being a legume, it was chosen either for solving erosion and
aeolian problems such as dune mobility, or as a fodder plant in semi-arid and arid
regions. Since being planted in Israeli coastal sand dunes, A. saligna has spread
rapidly at an annual growth rate of 2.92 % (Bar (Kutiel) et al. 2004). This has caused
significant undesired changes, from the conservation point of view, such as dune
stabilization, exclusion of psammophiles (sand-loving species—some of which
endemic to the region) and replacement by generalists and species noncharacteristic
to the dunes, and a significant reduction in the regional biodiversity as a whole
(Mehta 2000; Cohen and Bar (Kutiel) 2004) High biodiversity is considered crucial
for ecosystem sustainability (Tilman et al. 1996).
This research combines our ecological understanding of the spread of the
invasive species A. saligna within the coastal sand dunes in Israel with known
D. Lehrer (&)
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, 88840 Kibbutz Ketura,
D.N. Hevel Eilot, Israel
e-mail: david.lehrer@arava.org
N. Becker
Department of Economics and Management, Tel Hai College,
12210 Upper Galilee, Israel
e-mail: nbecker@telhai.ac.il
P. Kutiel (Bar)
Department of Geography & Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University,
P.O.B. 653 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
e-mail: kutiel@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_17,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
273
The Value of Coastal Sand Dunes
as a Measure to Plan an Optimal Policy
for Invasive Plant Species: The Case
of the Acacia saligna at the Nizzanim LTER
Coastal Sand Dune Nature Reserve, Israel
David Lehrer, Nir Becker and Pua Kutiel (Bar)
17.1 Introduction
The introduction of Acacia saligna into Israel by the British Mandate and later on by
the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) forestation department began at the start of the 20th
century and continued for over 70 years. Because of its rapid growth rate over a broad
ecological range and being a legume, it was chosen either for solving erosion and
aeolian problems such as dune mobility, or as a fodder plant in semi-arid and arid
regions. Since being planted in Israeli coastal sand dunes, A. saligna has spread
rapidly at an annual growth rate of 2.92 % (Bar (Kutiel) et al. 2004). This has caused
significant undesired changes, from the conservation point of view, such as dune
stabilization, exclusion of psammophiles (sand-loving species—some of which
endemic to the region) and replacement by generalists and species noncharacteristic
to the dunes, and a significant reduction in the regional biodiversity as a whole
(Mehta 2000; Cohen and Bar (Kutiel) 2004) High biodiversity is considered crucial
for ecosystem sustainability (Tilman et al. 1996).
This research combines our ecological understanding of the spread of the
invasive species A. saligna within the coastal sand dunes in Israel with known
D. Lehrer (&)
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, 88840 Kibbutz Ketura,
D.N. Hevel Eilot, Israel
e-mail: david.lehrer@arava.org
N. Becker
Department of Economics and Management, Tel Hai College,
12210 Upper Galilee, Israel
e-mail: nbecker@telhai.ac.il
P. Kutiel (Bar)
Department of Geography & Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University,
P.O.B. 653 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel
e-mail: kutiel@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_17,
Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
273