Temporal vegetation changes in relation to dune sealing on Natural England land at Formby Point, Sefton Coast

Aneurin O'Neil, Irene Delgado-Fernandez, Paul Ashton

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractpeer-review

Abstract

This project aims to investigate the decline in bare sand across the Sefton coast due to sand dune sealing and the composition of the encroaching associated vegetation. This research is important as existing literature on sand dune sealing focuses purely on the decline of bare sand at the expense of vegetation growth, without providing full consideration to the growth form of the vegetation. The changes in vegetation composition across Natural England land at Formby Point, Sefton Coast were measured by performing supervised classifications in ARCGIS 10.2.2 at near bi-decadal intervals between 1945 and 2010. Vegetation was broken down into three types, the anthropogenic Pinus nigra woodland, scrub and deciduous woodland and grass. Bare sand was also classified to calculate changes in its extent. Changes to the vegetation composition were then analysed in comparison to seasonal and decadal climate changes and land management processes. Vegetation extent and composition appear to be predominantly by climate and land management respectively, with climatic data suggesting an increase in the quality of growing conditions and the vegetation composition of the land responding to the management practices carried out both pre and post Natural England.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Event21st Windy Day - University of Reading, United Kingdom
Duration: 21 Oct 2015 → …

Conference

Conference21st Windy Day
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
Period21/10/15 → …

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