Restoring shingle vegetation - container grown plants

Planting of container grown plants with the addition of material (sand and organic matter) can provide successful establishment. Plants subsequently buried by shingle deposited by the tides can survive but this depends on the natural ability of the plants (those with extensive root systems) to tolerate burial. The study at Sizewell concluded that:

• The use of resources to recreate an appropriate substrate composition is of far greater importance than fertiliser or organic matter treatment (Walmsley & Davy 1997b);
• However further analysis suggested that "Successful restoration of a shingle beach vegetation requires the rapid establishment of container-grown plants. Although the chance of severe burial on a coastal shingle ridge is less than once every year, the risk of total failure to establish any vegetation is too great to justify the potential waste of effort and resources." (Walmsley & Davy 2001).

Comment: Limited studies are also reported in the "Guide to the management and restoration of coastal vegetated shingle".

References

Walmsley, C.A. & Davy, A.J. 1997b. The restoration of coastal shingle vegetation: effects of substrate on the establishment of container grown plants. Journal of Applied Ecology, 34/1., 154-165. Abstract...

Walmsley, C.A. & Davy, A.J. 2001. Habitat creation and restoration of damaged shingle communities. In: Ecology & Geomorphology of Coastal Shingle, eds.Packham, J.R., Randall, R.E., Barnes, R.S.K. & Neal, A.Westbury Academic and Scientific Publishing, 409-420.