An ecological study of the Greenwich sand dune system

The absence of shrub synusia on the Greenwich sand dune system can be attributed to the environmental selection which is the result of the local topography and concomitant wind direction. Wind activity not only controls the small number of diaspores that invade the area but is also responsible for extensive seed and seedling burial. The vegetative data obtained offers little evidence to suggest that secondary stabilization can occur from the present shrub population of predominantly Populus tremuloides, Prunus pensylvanica, and Salix discolor. The dune sand at Greenwich is highly mobile and almost totally dependent upon colonization by Ammophila breviligulata.