This article gives an overview of the shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.
The shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities of the NVC were described in Volume 5 of British Plant Communities, first published in 2000, along with the other maritime communities (those of saltmarshes and maritime cliffs) and vegetation of open habitats.
In total, 19 shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities have been identified.
The shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities consist of a single community found on coastal shingle (SD1), two communities associated with strandlines (SD2 and SD3), and sixteen sand-dune communities.
The sand-dune communities fall into the following four groups:
six foredune and mobile dune communities (SD4, SD5, SD6, SD7, SD10 and SD19)
four fixed-dune grasslands (SD8, SD9, SD11 and SD12)
five dune-slack communities (SD13, SD14, SD15, SD16 and SD17)
one dune scrub community, SD18
Other communities occurring on sand-dunes
There are a number of other communities which occur on sand-dunes, but are not classified as sand-dune communities within the NVC. Those listed in British Plant Communities are as follows:
Maritime cliff communities MC5 and MC6
Open vegetation communities OV4 and OV27
Mesotrophic grassland communities MG8, MG10 and MG11
Swamp communities S4 and S19
Mire communities M15 and M16
Heath community H11
List of shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities
The following is a list of the communities that make up this category:
SD1 Rumex crispus - Glaucium flavum shingle community
SD2 Honkenya peploides - Cakile maritima strandline community
SD3 Matricaria maritima - Galium aparine strandline community
SD4 Elymus farctus ssp. boreali-atlanticus foredune community
SD5 Leymus arenarius mobile dune community
SD6 Ammophila arenaria mobile dune community
SD7 Ammophila arenaria - Festuca rubra semi-fixed dune community
SD8 Festuca rubra - Galium verum fixed dune grassland
SD9 Ammophila arenaria - Arrhenatherum elatius dune grassland
SD10 Carex arenaria dune community
SD11 Carex arenaria - Cornicularia aculeata dune community
SD12 Carex arenaria - Festuca ovina - Agrostis capillaris dune grassland
SD13 Sagina nodosa - Bryum pseudotriquetrum dune-slack community
SD14 Salix repens - Campylium stellatum dune-slack community
SD15 Salix repens - Calliergon cuspidatum dune-slack community
SD16 Salix repens - Holcus lanatus dune-slack community
SD17 Potentilla anserina - Carex nigra dune-slack community
SD18 Hippophae rhamnoides dune scrub
SD19 Phleum arenarium - Arenaria serpyllifolia dune annual community Tortulo-Phleetum arenariae (Massart 1908) Br.-Bl. & de Leeuw 1936
