Name:
Sporobolus virginicus - Ipomoea pes-caprae - Suriana maritima Coastal Dune & Beach Vegetation Macrogroup
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This macrogroup covers the gradient from the upper beach to landward features found on sand-covered shorelines, including shorelines of coastal lagoons, as well as supra-tidal coastal rock pavement and salt spray cliffs. Sand beach vegetation closest to the intertidal zone - the upper beach, comprise mostly annual nitro-halophytes occupying accumulations of drift material and sands rich in nitrogenous organic matter. In the Caribbean coasts, ephemeral growth of <i>Blutaparon vermiculare, Cakile lanceolata, Cyperus</i> spp., <i>Diodia serrulata, Fimbristylis cymosa, Kyllinga</i> spp., and <i>Lepidium virginicum</i> is characteristic, accompanied by patches of <i>Heliotropium curassavicum</i> and <i>Sesuvium portulacastrum</i>, mostly limited to small depressions. Locally, <i>Ipomoea pes-caprae, Alternanthera maritima, Remirea maritima</i>, and other upper beach and foredune species may invade the pioneer foreshore and lower backshore zone. Perennial vines such as <i>Canavalia rosea</i> and <i>Ipomoea pes-caprae</i> are generally more characteristic of tropical beaches than of temperate ones.<br /><br />This beach vegetation includes the southernmost of its kind along the mainland Atlantic Coast of North America. Its southerly location distinguishes it from other types, primarily due to the prevalence of the tropical flora it supports. Dunes and foredunes of the tropical portion of the Florida peninsula are distinguished by the presence of <i>Canavalia rosea</i> on the upper beach, and <i>Scaevola plumieri, Suriana maritima, Chamaesyce mesembrianthemifolia</i>, and occasional shrubs of <i>Coccoloba uvifera</i> among <i>Uniola paniculata</i>, a perennial rhizomatous grass, whose stems trap the sand grains blown off the beach, building up the dune by growing upward to keep pace with sand burial. Besides southern Florida, the tropical distribution of this type of grassy sea-oat dunes includes the sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico north of the Yucatan Peninsula, Cuba, and the Bahamas.<br /><br />More stable beach ridges, foredunes and primary dunes of the Antilles and the Caribbean coast of South America are colonized by low, usually leaf-succulent shrubs and subshrubs, many of them of pantropical, tropical American or cosmopolitan distribution. The communities formed are fairly constant throughout the tropics and characteristic dominants include <i>Argusia gnaphalodes, Batis maritima, Borrichia</i> spp., <i>Nolana galapagensis, Scaevola plumieri, Suriana maritima</i>, and <i>Uniola paniculata</i>. Low chenopod shrubs such as <i>Atriplex peruviana, Salicornia "virginica"</i> s.l. (<i>Salicornia "fruticosa"</i> s.l.) are also typically present.<br /><br />The macrogroup also includes shrub thickets, known in Florida as coastal berms, found on long narrow storm-deposited ridges of loose sediment formed by a mixture of coarse shell fragments, pieces of coralline algae, and other coastal debris. These ridges parallel the shore and may be found in low-energy coastlines in south Florida and the Florida Keys, on the seaward edge or landward edge of the mangroves or further inland depending on the height of the storm surge that formed them. Similar shoreline thicket communities occur in several of the Caribbean islands on locations with mangroves and similar storm dynamics. These thickets are dominated by shrubs and herbs accompanied by small trees, all of tropical floristic affinity. Rock pavement and coastal cliffs are dominated by <i>Rachicallis americana</i> and <i>Borrichia arborescens</i> that occur in supra-tidal pavement areas.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40939-{91D292C8-9C34-4F75-9294-3E858EC4EDB1}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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