Soil Particle Sizes and Plant Communities on Coastal Dunes

To identify and assess the distribution patterns of coastal dune vegetation along the eastern, southern, and western coasts of South Korea, we investigated the plant communities and soil factors at 30 sites. In all, 12 communities on CCA (canonical correspondence analysis) Axis 1 and 2 could be arranged into 3 groups: 1) 2 communities of Elymus mollis and Ischaemum anthephoroides, with medium sand contents; 2) 6 communities of Carex pumila, Carex kobomugi, Ixeris repens, Zoysia macrostachya, Calystegia soldanella, and Vitex rotundifolia, with coarse sand contents; and 3) 4 communities of Lathyrus japonicus, Glehnia littoralis, Messerschmidia sibirica, and Rosa rugosa, with very coarse sand contents. As identified via CCA ordination, the distribution of these groups was positively correlated with soil particle sizes.