Studies on vegetation cover of the youngest dunes of the Swina Gate Barrier (western Polish coast)

This study from summer 2002 describes the largely undisturbed vegetation cover of pioneer habitats on coastal dunes of the Swina Gate Barrier, west Polish coast. The aim of the study was to survey the morphology of the youngest undisturbed dunes on an accumulation coast and describe the different vegetation types. The influence from tourism in the main selected study area is rather low; however, increasing numbers of tourists potentially threaten the dunes. The result of the study is the map of habitats and graphs of species in each section of the dunes. Ecological indicator values were calculated for each section of the dunes, showing the changing ecological conditions for the different habitats. Each habitat has some typical species, which are sometimes completely restricted to this single habitat. Consequently, the value for conservation of these undisturbed complex dunal ecosystems with all habitat types is high.