Sea cliff, habitat loss, ploughing

In many area agriculture has extended to the edge of the cliff-top. This destroys the plant and animal communities often reducing them to a narrow fringe at the edge of the cliff as is shown in the picture below. In areas where the cliff is rapidly eroding this can result in a total loss of cliff-top vegetation as has happened at Beachy Head.

Caption: Loss of cliff-top vegetation to ploughing for arable cultivation. North coast of France. Note the growth of course grassland in the left of the picture which accompanies this change in land use as grazing animals are removed from the land.