A Study on Long-Term Salt-Marsh Succession Using Permanent Plots

Succession of plant communities on a salt marsh at the Boschplaat, Terschelling (The Netherlands) is described on the basis of relevés from permanent plots in three transects, covering a period of almost 30 years. All relevés were clustered, using a hierarchical fusion technique. Succession has been quantified in terms of transitions between clusters over time in all plots. Analysis of the results showed four clearly distinct successional trends, each restricted to a particular altitudinal zone of the salt marsh. Between zones there were only few interconnections. This implies that zonation does not represent succession, at least not on the time scale of this study. It is suggested that initial differences between zones in the processes that change the abiotic environment, form the basis of vegetation zonation at the Boschplaat.