141 Results Found

Numerous sandy deposits, interpreted as the remains of old climbing dunes, are preserved on the cliffy coast of Galicia (northwest Spain). These deposits can be found both in open coastal areas and in the interior of the Galician Rias. In this paper,...

Hurricanes Ian and Nicole caused devastating destruction across Florida in September and November 2022, leaving widespread damage in their wakes. This study focuses on the assessment of barrier islands’ shorelines, encompassing natural sand dun...

This paper deals with the characterization and evolution of dune systems along the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia, in the South of Spain, a first step to assess their relevant value in coastal flood protection and in the determination of sound mana...

A large part of the Baltic Sea coastline in the north-eastern provinces of Germany (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein) is protected by coastal protection dunes, which are constructed and maintained to preserve a quasi-natural beach enviro...

The invasive ecosystem engineer Ammophila arenaria, native to Europe, was first introduced to California (USA) in 1896. More than a century later, it has come to dominate coastal foredune vegetation on the west coast of North America to the near excl...

Coastal dunes arise from feedbacks between vegetation and sediment supply. Species-specific differences in plant functional morphology affect sand capture and dune shape. In this study, we build on research showing a relationship between dune grass s...

This study focuses on analyzing the growth rate and growth–climate relationship in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) growing on coastal dunes of different ages on the Southern Baltic coast. Podzols have developed on these dunes. Depending on dun...

Coastal dunes are valuable and vulnerable habitats that require scientific exploration and understanding of their natural processes; therefore, the aims of this study were to determine the current vegetation characteristics of dune habitats along the...

A rational method for the design of sand dike/dune systems at sheltered sites is presented, focussing on the cross-shore dimensions of the sand dike in relation to the local wave climate, tidal regime and available sandy materials. The example case i...

Historically, the Texas Gulf Coast has been affected by many tropical storms and hurricanes. The most recent severe impact was caused by Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in August 2017 on the central Texas coast. We evaluated the impact of Hurri...

Long-term changes in dune volume at the Belgian coast are analyzed based on measured data by airborne surveys available from 1979. For most of the 65 km long coastal stretch, dune volume increases linearly in time at a constant rate. Dune growth vari...

This paper presents an application of the Bayesian belief network for coastal erosion management at the regional scale. A “Bayesian ERosion Management Network” (BERM-N) is developed and trained based on yearly cross-shore profile data ava...

Coastal regions are dynamic environments that have been the main settlement destinations for human society development for centuries. Development by humans and environmental changes have resulted in intensive land cover transformation. However, detai...

For the restoration and maintenance of beach and dune systems along the coast, knowledge of aeolian sediment transport and its interaction with coastal protection measures is required. As a nature-based solution, sand trapping fences can be an integr...

This paper describes a large-scale experiment designed to examine if reinstating natural processes in the coastal dune systems of Southwest France can be a relevant nature-based adaptation in chronically eroding sectors and a nature-based solution ag...

This study aimed to determine the diversity and distribution of endophytic fungi in coastal dune vegetation. Endophytic fungi promote plant growth and protect host plants from environmental stress and pathogens. Plants that have flourished as a resul...

In the past few years, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have achieved great popularity for civil uses. One of the present main uses of these devices is low-cost aerial photogrammetry, being especially useful in coastal environments. In this work, a high...

Invasive alien plants (IAP) pose a major threat to biodiversity and have a negative impact on the integrity and conservation status of plant communities. Mediterranean dunes are widely exposed to IAP, due to their environmental heterogeneity and the...

Beach litter threatens coastal dunes integrity across the world. European countries are committed to improving the environmental status of the marine and coastal environment by 2020, and to do this, they need to reduce the gap of knowledge about litt...

Galician Rias are fluvial valleys that were flooded during the last marine transgression in the Atlantic margin. The study of fossil dunes in the Cies Islands, a small archipelago in the mouth of the one of the rias (Ria de Vigo), allowed us to recon...

We report cross-shore profile evolution at Palanga, eastern Baltic Sea, where short period waves dominate. Cross-shore profile studies began directly after a significant coastal erosion event caused by storm “Anatol”, in December of 1999,...

Alien plants represent a significant threat to species diversity and composition in natural habitats. Nevertheless, little is known about the dynamic of the invasion process and how its effects on native species change over time. In this study, we ex...

Coastal retreat processes are usually associated with many anthropogenic actions, such as the regulation of river basins, the construction of hydraulic storm defence works in coastal areas and the building of housing on the beach. To all of this, we...

Coastal dunes play an important role in coastal erosion risk management, where they act as a dynamic natural sea defence line. Formby coast is part of the Sefton coast in the Northwest of England and is one of the largest and most rapidly evolving sa...

Nematodes are a large and diversified zoological group with a wide global distribution, being able even to be present in habitats with extreme conditions. Although coastal dunes can be considered as an adverse environment for these animals, numerous...

This research analyses beach vulnerability to erosion along the coast of Valencia province, Spain. The Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) is used to assess vulnerability, considering the following variables: beach width, beach erosion/accretion rate,...

Coastal erosion occurs due to different processes involving physical and ecological systems. One of these factors is the degree of water stress experienced by dune vegetation. While healthy dune vegetation can help to stabilize the dune systems, wate...

The Pacific coast of the Shimokita Peninsula, Northeast Japan, is occupied by one of the larger dune complexes in Japan. This coastal aeolian dune complex developed during the Holocene in a monsoon-influenced temperate climatic belt. The stratigraphi...

Coastal lagoons and dunes are of great ecological importance, not only for providing habitats for rare flora and fauna, but also for protecting coastal areas from rising sea levels and storms, etc. Even though these features are unique for sustainabl...

The purpose of this study is to document the geomorphic evolution of a mechanical dune over approximately one year following its installation and compare it to the recovery of a natural dune following the impact of Hurricane Matthew (2016). During th...

The Remolar beach-dune system (700 m long and more than 100 m wide, 070N direction) borders a campground that was closed (2003), due to the Barcelona airport expansion. In order to recover and restore the dune ecosystem, a series of soft measures wer...

The dune systems are very important from an environmental, landscape, and coastal defense point of view within coastal areas. Currently, dune systems are significantly reduced compared to a few decades ago and, in Europe alone, dune systems have decr...

Coastal dune restoration projects are increasingly seen as a means of protecting the coast against storms, especially with the use of natural (plants), artificial (geotextile tube cores) and hybrid (plants and geotextile tube) elements. As geotextile...

The Dutch coast is characterized by sandy beaches flanked by dunes. Understanding the morphology of the coast is essential for defense against flooding of the hinterland. Because most dramatic changes of the beach and the first dune row happen during...

Environmental studies on coastal dune systems are faced with a considerable cost barrier due to the cost of the instrumentation and sensory equipment required for data collection. These systems play an important role in coastal areas as a protection...

The 2013–14 winter storms were the most energetic storms in the European Atlantic on record since at least 1948. They caused intense erosive processes along the coast, similar to those described previously in places such as the United Kingdom a...

The coastal vulnerability index (CVI) is a popular index in literature to assess the coastal vulnerability of climate change. The present paper proposes a CVI formulation to make it suitable for the Mediterranean coasts; the formulation considers ten...

Dunelands are one of the most dynamic environments on Earth, which greatly hinders their conservation and management. In the dune slacks along the Manawatū coast, New Zealand, lies a zone of small, temporary, freshwater wetlands that host early...

During the second half of the last century, considerable anthropization processes were observed throughout most of the Italian territory. These processes have altered the equilibrium conditions of several river and coastal ecosystems, causing the des...

Although sandy islands in arid environments are vital protection sites for endemic species, they face constant natural and anthropogenic hazards, such as storm surge impacts and the occasional presence of off-road vehicles. Monitoring the sedimentary...

Coastal dune systems around the world have been severely degraded by human activities, especially in the last century. This has resulted in severe structural and functional damage to these dynamic yet fragile transitional ecosystems and a net loss of...

The frequency of hurricanes and tropical storms is increasing; for example, there were a record-breaking 31 named storms during the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. Texas has historically been susceptible to hurricanes and tropical storms; however, Hu...

Coastal areas are exposed to high levels of human occupation, which has led to their degradation. Coastal dunes have been greatly altered by different historical and current land uses, causing the loss of their natural and cultural values. On the coa...

Coastal foredunes are topographically high features that can reduce vulnerability to storm-related flooding hazards. While the dominant aeolian, hydrodynamic, and ecological processes leading to dune growth and erosion are fairly well-understood, pre...

Sand dunes protect the most important economic and ecologically critical landscapes from coastal hazards (storms and high-tide flooding). The characteristics of the dune affect their protective ability. This paper qualitatively and quantitatively ass...

Over one-third of the Earth’s population resides or works within 200 km of the coast. The increasing threat of coastal hazards with predicted climate change will impact many global citizens. Coastal dune systems serve as a natural first line of...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being widely used to monitor microtopographic and vegetation changes in coastal habitats using remote sensing techniques. Sand dune habitats are vital ecosystems along the North coast of Humboldt County in Californ...

Background: Juniperus macrocarpa Sm. is a key shrub species of the Mediterranean coastal dune systems. The species, considered vulnerable, often shows fragmented or declining populations due to coastal erosion and human pressure. However, along...

We investigate the storm impact associated with historical events in the northern Yucatan Peninsula. The study area is prone to coastal flooding due to both its geographical location and low-lying areas. Extreme events associated with tropical cyclon...

Coastal dunes are sensitive indicators of climate change: it is expected that higher precipitation and warmer temperature will promote vegetation growth and sand stabilization. Alternatively, dunes may become active during severe droughts, which woul...