Shifting dunes along the shoreline with Ammophila arenaria (white dunes)
White dunes along the Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic coasts, dominated by marram grass (Ammophila arenaria and x Ammocalamagrostis baltica) and up to a number of metres high. Characteristics are the mostly high input of sand, the onset of soil desalination and the independence from groundwater.
Notes on habitat mapping
The criterion for the delimitation of this habitat type is the dominance of Ammophila arenaria and x Ammocalamagrostis baltica respectively, or, above all in the eastern part of the Baltic, Leymus arenarius. Dunes not hosting these species are excluded.
Older stands of Ammophila on dunes further inland should only be considered under this type if the process of humus accumulation in the soil has not yet begun which is linked to the occurrence of typical elements of the vegetation of grey dunes (2130).
Comments
Ammophila arenaria as well as Leymus arenarius are suitable species for use in bioengineering (i.a. biological stabilization of shifting coastal dunes). Phytosociologically the habitats can quite easily be regenerated. However, the rarer species are slow to colonize.