Spatial and temporal variation of community composition and species cover following dune restoration in the Devesa de Albufera (Valencia, Spain)

Plant populations were reintroduced to the coastal dune bar of the Devesa de Albufera from 1988 to 2004; different coastline sections received different species composition and cover. With the aim to detect spatial and temporal variation of floristic diversity, we compared current species composition and cover across the length of the Devesa and across the dune bar with those imposed at the time of restoration. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) detected significant differences both across the dune faces and across the coast sections. Differences across the dune faces reflect the sea-inland ecological gradient and resulted from a spatial rearrangement of plant populations: Calystegia soldanella, Achillea maritima and Polygonum maritimum prefer the windward face; Malcolmia littorea and Lagurus ovatus the leeward. Differences across coast sections are related to those at restoration time, with a slow trend towards the homogenization of plant communities. At the current level of anthropic pressure, the plant cover is likely to evolve following the trends pointed out in this research.