Article
Plant Sciences
Nicole L. Kinlock
Summary: Analyzing plant interactions using network theory and considering interactions at different life stages can provide a more comprehensive understanding of species coexistence in plant communities. The study highlights the importance of examining network architecture and substructures in promoting species coexistence, which may not be evident when considering pairwise interactions or interactions within a single life stage.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
M. Luisa Martinez, Octavio Perez-Maqueo, Gabriela Vazquez, Rosario Landgrave
Summary: Coastal dunes serve as sensitive indicators of climate change, and understanding how vegetation in these dunes responds to projected changes is crucial. Primary succession plays a significant role in community assembly and reorganization processes. Studying the spatiotemporal dynamics of primary succession in a dune system on the Gulf of Mexico coast revealed that late colonizers grew and expanded, leading to the local extinction of psammophytes. The study also identified an association between increased temperatures and enhanced plant cover and species richness, which was previously undocumented in Mexico.
Article
Plant Sciences
Anja Schmutz, Christian Schoeb
Summary: This study found that co-adapted crop species with reduced negative interactions might have the potential to enhance productivity, especially in more diverse cropping systems. This supports the notion that intercropping is a vital part towards a more sustainable agriculture and one with further yield potential when developing cultivars optimised for growth in mixtures.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Pua Bar (Kutiel), Ofir Katz, Michael Dorman
Summary: Spatial heterogeneity influences plant community composition and diversity, especially in annual plant communities, forming meta-communities at the regional scale. This study focused on the coastal dune ecosystem in Nizzanim nature reserve, Israel, and aimed to analyze the impact of spatial heterogeneity on the characteristics and temporal stability of the annual plant meta-community. The results showed that the transition from mobile dunes to fixed dunes led to an increase in plant cover, species richness, species diversity, changes in plant communities, and stability driven by asynchrony of species population fluctuations.
Article
Engineering, Marine
Carmelo Maximiliano-Cordova, Rodolfo Silva, Edgar Mendoza, Valeria Chavez, M. Luisa Martinez, Rusty A. Feagin
Summary: Coastal dune restoration projects are crucial for protecting the coast from storms. This study found that combining rocky dune cores with vegetation is the most suitable and sustainable option, as it reduces erosion caused by storms.
JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Abel Sanromualdo-Collado, Juan Bautista Gallego-Fernandez, Patrick A. Hesp, Maria Luisa Martinez, Nicholas O'Keeffe, Nicolas Ferrer-Valero, Luis Hernandez-Calvento
Summary: This study explored the variables affecting arid foredunes by measuring morphological, sedimentological, and vegetation characteristics on a single nebkha formed by a Traganum moquinii plant. The results revealed close relationships between distance from the sea, plant coverage, and sediment patterns, and a conceptual model was proposed to explain the spatial distribution of bio- and geo-morphological characteristics of the arid nebkha foredune.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Pua Bar Kutiel, Michael Dorman
Summary: Scalar analysis, an emerging practice in ecology, holds particular value in heterogeneous environments. This study in Mediterranean coastal dune systems demonstrates the importance of multi-scalar analysis in understanding the processes at finer scales and their impact on patterns at larger scales. The results highlight the differences in annual plant characteristics between mobile and fixed dunes, as well as the reorganization and distribution of annual plants within different dune stabilization states.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Patricia Moreno-Casasola, Marisa Luisa Martinez, Debora Lithgow
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted global activities, causing fluctuations in beach visitors and a need for new safety protocols. Proposed nature-based landscapes aim to maintain social distancing and restore beaches in a way that promotes health and natural ecosystems.
Article
Environmental Studies
Maria Carla de Francesco, Francesco Pio Tozzi, Gabriella Buffa, Edy Fantinato, Michele Innangi, Angela Stanisci
Summary: Invasive alien plants pose a major threat to biodiversity, particularly in Mediterranean dunes. This study found that there are three critical thresholds related to invasive plant cover, Oenothera stucchii Soldano abundance, and distance from dune paths, which can cause a decline in diagnostic species cover in shifting and transition dunes.
Article
Geography, Physical
Marcio D. DaSilva, David Bruce, Patrick A. Hesp, Graziela Miot da Silva, Joram Downes
Summary: This study investigates the post-fire responses of coastal dune sites on Kangaroo Island using UAV surveys and satellite imagery. The results show that there is no significant landscape instability and the vegetation ground cover is recovering to pre-fire levels, indicating that the severe fire did not lead to the development of a transgressive dunefield.
EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Dmytro V. Dubyna, Svitlana M. Iemelianova, Tetiana P. Dziuba
Summary: Coastal dunes in Ukraine are facing significant threats from the invasion of alien plants. This study analyzed the composition, origin, and distribution of these alien species across the dunes, revealing that 16.3% of species are alien, mostly from the Mediterranean-Turanian region. The study emphasizes the need for conservation and management strategies to prevent biodiversity loss caused by these invasive plants.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hector Gerardo Frias-Urena, Jose Ariel Ruiz-Corral, Miguel Angel Macias-Rodriguez, Noe Duran, Diego Gonzalez, Fabio De Albuquerque, Jose Pablo Torres Moran
Summary: This research explored the relationship between environmental properties and the presence of plant species in the embryo dunes of the coast of Jalisco, Mexico. The study found that the poorly developed soils of the embryo dunes had significant correlations with the presence of certain plant species. The embryo dunes had a unique set of specialized habitats and flora that are rarely shared with other terrestrial ecosystems.
Review
Plant Sciences
Long Yang, Yuhui Huang, Lucas Vieira Lima, Zhongyu Sun, Meijie Liu, Jun Wang, Nan Liu, Hai Ren
Summary: Dicranopteris is an ancient and widespread genus of ferns in pantropical regions. Some species of this genus can form dense thickets and dominate the understory, but they have been mostly cut or burned in forest management. However, they play important roles in ecosystem recovery, resistance to environmental stress, and succession control, and may expand their distribution in response to global warming, changes in precipitation patterns, deforestation, and land degradation. It is recommended that more attention be paid to Dicranopteris in future research and management practices to promote forest regeneration and succession.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Oceanography
Enzo Pranzini
Summary: Researchers are studying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on coastal communities, focusing on the Sun, Sea, Sand tourism industry in the GDP. By analyzing historical plagues in Europe, they find clues on how pandemics may affect beach morphology and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in studying coastal evolution.
OCEAN & COASTAL MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
K. J. A. Vendel, R. J. Wichink Kruit, M. Blom, P. van den Bulk, B. van Egmond, A. Frumau, S. Rutledge-Jonker, A. Hensen, M. C. van Zanten
Summary: In this study, ammonia deposition in a Dutch coastal dune ecosystem was measured using the aerodynamic flux-gradient method. The average ammonia flux was found to be -7.1 +/- 1.7 ng m- 2 s- 1, with an annual deposition flux of -132 +/- 32 mol ha- 1 yr- 1. Modeling the fluxes with the DEPAC module resulted in an overestimation of deposition fluxes, but captured the diurnal variations well. Adjusting certain DEPAC parameters improved the agreement between model and measurements.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Joseph K. Brown, Julie C. Zinnert, Donald R. Young
JOURNAL OF PLANT ECOLOGY
(2018)
Article
Ecology
Joseph K. Brown, Julie C. Zinnert
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Evan B. Goldstein, Elsemarie V. Mullins, Laura J. Moore, Reuben G. Biel, Joseph K. Brown, Sally D. Hacker, Katya R. Jay, Rebecca S. Mostow, Peter Ruggiero, Julie C. Zinnert
Article
Ecology
Joseph K. Brown, Julie C. Zinnert
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Joseph K. Brown, Julie C. Zinnert
Summary: The study found that nitrogen-phosphorus co-limitation resulted in higher productivity in N+P plots compared to other treatments. Certain traits (such as height and ΔN-15) caused divergence between N+P plots and C+P plots in terms of functional traits. Functional trait-based composition patterns differed from species composition and lifeform abundance patterns, highlighting the complexities of community response to nutrient enrichment.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Joseph K. Brown, Ashley Moulton, Julie C. Zinnert
Summary: Nutrient enrichment significantly affects the structure, organization, and productivity of coastal grassland communities, resulting in increased dominance of high-nitrogen grasses, reorganization of subordinate species, and absence of critical species.