Is biodiversity maintained by scrub removal in coastal dunes?

• Applicant: Dr. Maike Isermann
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: from 2010 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 180619182

Biodiversity of coastal dunes in NW Europe is reduced by the expansion of non-native, invasive, shrubs such as Hippophaë rhamnoides. The establishment of H. rhamnoides changes the environmental conditions, especially the nitrogen content in the soil. Various factors of landuse change caused a general development towards older, often species-poor, succession stages in NW Europe. In one of the largest dune systems in Britain, the Sefton Coast, different management measures e.g. shrub removal by machines, manual mowing, combined with following grazing were used to maintain biodiversity. Ecological patterns and processes effect diversity at different spatial scales, including landscape heterogeneity, local as well as community diversity and environmental heterogeneity. Therefore, the project will compare plant species diversity at different scales (in a nested stratified-random design) in areas still with Hippophaë rhamnoides and those where the scrub is removed to evaluate the success of the restoration measures.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Dr. Paul Rooney