Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Temperate to Polar Scrub & Herb Coastal Vegetation Formation

Colloquial Name: Temperate to Polar Scrub & Herb Coastal Vegetation

Hierarchy Level:  Formation

Type Concept: Temperate to Polar Scrub & Herb Coastal Vegetation includes upland habitats found along the coast, including beaches, bluffs and dunes, where wind, water, and salinity are major drivers of the vegetation. It extends across the mid to polar latitudes between 23° and 60-70°N and S, and occurs along both coastal saline waters and large freshwater lakes. Beaches include the strip of sand or gravel that extends from the mean tideline to the top of the foredune (frontal foredune). The dune extends further inland wherever the sandy/gravelly site conditions restrict tree growth (<10% cover). Unconsolidated bluffs (but not marine rock cliffs) are more stable, relatively vertical habitats. The vegetation often has morphological (psammophytic) adaptations to these habitats, including prostrate herbaceous annual growth forms, with mesomorphic leaves, neither succulent nor sclerophyllous, less commonly with perennial herbs, and increasingly with perennial grasses and shrubs on the stabilized backdunes. Temperate coastal habitats tend to have large perennial grasses, with a diversity of forbs, and have higher wind and wave energy. A zone of ephemerals (such as Cakile, Atriplex, and Salsola) is perhaps more common (Barbour 1992).

Diagnostic Characteristics: The vegetation often has morphological (psammophytic) adaptations to these habitats, including prostrate herbaceous perennial growth forms, with mesomorphic leaves, neither succulent nor sclerophyllous, less commonly with annual herbs, and increasingly with perennial grasses and shrubs on the stabilized backdunes. The backdune may have more typical mesomorphic or xeromorphic scrub and herb vegetation.

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: This formation is only weakly defined by growth forms. It may be a more appropriate division-level distinction, but it does provide a convenient grouping of very similar divisions across the globe; thus it may be a formation, based on global scale coastal ecological processes and justified by a bottom-up perspective [see Table 1].

There are windswept inland dunes that can appear similar to coastal environments. They may have established on more ancient coastal shorelines. Review is needed to determine whether the vegetation fits here or in 2.B.2. ~Temperate Grassland & Shrubland Formation (F012)$$.

The tropical coastal vegetation tends to have prostrate or low perennial grasses on the beach and foredune and have woody species (favored by the long growing season) on the backdunes. In drier temperate climates, there may be a shift to xeromorphic cool desert species.

Table 1. Grassland and Shrubland Formations and Divisions of the Northern Hemisphere (Southern Hemisphere not shown), showing the distinctive floristic characteristics of the coastal divisions.

2.B.2 Temperate Grassland, Meadow, Shrubland & Savanna
	D022	2.B.2.Na Western North American Grassland & Shrubland
	D023	2.B.2.Nb Great Plains Grassland & Shrubland
	D024	2.B.2.Nc Eastern North American Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland
	D061	2.B.2.Nd Western North American Interior Sclerophyllous Chaparral Shrubland
	D102	2.B.2.Ne Southeastern North American Grassland & Shrubland
	D109	2.B.2.Pf European Grassland & Heath
	D110	2.B.2.Pg Western Eurasian Grassland & Shrubland
	D111	2.B.2.Ph Eastern Eurasian Grassland & Shrubland
2.B.3 Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland
	D025	2.B.3.Na North American Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland
	D114	2.B.3.Pb Eurasian Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland
2.B.4 Temperate to Polar Scrub & Herb Coastal Vegetation
	D026	2.B.4.Na Eastern North American Dune & Coastal Grassland & Shrubland
	D027	2.B.4.Nb Pacific North American Coast Scrub & Herb Vegetation
	D028	2.B.4.Nc Eastern North American Atlantic Rim Beach Strand Vegetation
	D146	2.B.4.Nd Arctic Coast Scrub & Herb Vegetation [not temperate.boreal]?
	D190	Atlantic & Mediterranean Europe Coastal Scrub & Herb Vegetation [Honckenyo-Elymetea arenarii, Ammophiletea]
	D191	Atlantic & Mediterranean Europe Beach Stand Vegetation [Cakiletea maritima]

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available