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Plant autecological
studies
Although several of the important plant species of shingle have been written
up for the Biological Flora
of the British Isles e.g. shrubby sea-blite Suaeda
vera (Chapman 1947), oyster plant
Mertensia maritima and yellow horned-poppy
Glaucium flavum (Scott
1963) and sea kale Crambe maritima
(Scott & Randall 1976) -
http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/publications/journals/ecology/biologicalflora.php,
there is still need for much greater understanding of the ecology of many other
species. Some detail is available from the Ecological Flora of the British Isles
database at York University -http://www.york.ac.uk/res/ecoflora/cfm/ecofl/index.cfm but it would
be very useful to have more knowledge on the autecology of species such as the
shingle ecotypes of broom Cytisus scoparius,
cleavers Galium aparine, herb robert Geranium
robertianum, blackthorn Prunus spinosa
and bittersweet Solanum dulcamara or species
like rock samphire Crithmum maritimum, sea-holly
Eryngium maritimum or sea mayweed Tripleurospermum
maritimum.
Recommendation: Sponsor more autecological
studies of rare plants and those potentially providing added stability
to shingle beaches.
References
Chapman, V.J.
1947.
Biological Flora of the British Isles: Suaeda fruticosa (vera).
Journal of Ecology, 35., 303-310.
Scott, G.A.M. & Randall, R.E.
1976.
Biological flora of the British Isles: Crambe maritima L..
Journal of Ecology, 64., 1077-1091.
Scott, G.A.M.
1963.
The ecology of shingle beach plants.
Journal of Ecology, 51., 517-527.
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