Coastal dune habitats have been declining globally over the last several decades due to rapid urbanization. Within remaining dune systems, dune fixation has resulted in further losses of mobile dunes with negative impacts on their associated species. Some studies suggest vegetation removal can initially promote habitat heterogeneity, and increase availability of suitable habitats for psammophile, xeric and endemic mobile dune species, but longer-term responses are generally unknown. We investigated the temporal trends of four taxonomic groups to determine the effect of vegetation removal on dune assemblages over a 12-year period at an LTER site. Three different forms of removal are investigated here—removal in a grid form on fixed dunes, removal of the wind-facing slope vegetation on semi-fixed dunes and opportunistic off-road driving on disturbed dunes. Results were varied across taxa, highlighting the need for multi-taxa monitoring in conservation and restoration management. Overall, fixed dune treatment had very little effect, while a stronger response was found in semi-fixed treatments in particular for mobile dune indicator species, which showed evidence of recolonization within a few years following treatment. Disturbed dunes were most similar to mobile dunes for animal taxa indicating that pulse removal may not be as effective as continuous press disturbance. Nevertheless, a less destructive form of disturbance such as re-introduction of grazing might be preferable and requires further investigation.

Spatial heterogeneity affects plant community composition and diversity. It is particularly noticeable in annual plant communities, which vary in space and time over short distances and periods, forming meta-communities at the regional scale. This study was conducted at the coastal dune ecosystem in Nizzanim nature reserve, Israel. This study aimed to analyze the effect of the spatial heterogeneity, which is expressed in differences in the fixation levels of the dunes and patches outside and beneath the dominant Artemisia monosperma shrubs, on the characteristics of the annual plant meta-community and its temporal stability, considering the mechanisms that may affect it. Thirteen dunes were studied: three mobile, seven semi-fixed, and three fixed dunes. Data on the annual plants were collected during the spring seasons of 2006, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016. For each dune, 72 quadrats of $40\times 40$ cm were sampled yearly, with 24 quadrats per slope aspect (windward, leeward, and crest), 12 under the shrub, and 12 in the open. The results indicate that the transition from mobile dunes through semi-fixed to fixed dunes is characterized by an increase in annual plant cover, species richness, species diversity, changes in plant communities, and stability driven by the asynchrony of species population fluctuations. Asynchrony affected the stability of the meta-community of this ecosystem in patches beneath the shrubs but not in the open patches.

Substantial evidence now suggests that a positive diversity–stability relationship exists. Yet few studies examine the facets of biodiversity that contribute to this relationship, and empirical research is predominantly conducted on grassland communities under controlled conditions. We investigate the roles of species richness, environmental condition (vegetation cover), asynchrony, and weighted population stability in driving community stability across multiple taxa. We used data from a Long-term Ecological Research project to investigate temporal stability of annual plants, beetles, reptiles, and rodents in Nizzanim Coastal Sand Dune Nature Reserve in Israel. All four taxa had a strong positive relationship between asynchrony and community stability. Only rodents showed a positive richness–stability relationship. Perennial plant cover had a significant relationship with community stability for three taxa, but the direction of the correlation varied. Asynchrony had a stronger relationship with perennial plant cover than it did with richness for both plants and beetles. We suggest that community stability is driven by asynchrony for flora as well as fauna. Stability appears to be determined by species’ interactions and their responses to the environment, and not always by diversity. This has important consequences for understanding the effects of environmental degradation on ecosystem stability and productivity, which have destabilizing consequences beyond biodiversity loss.

Since ecological phenomena and patterns vary with scale, scalar analysis is a developing practice in ecology. Scalar analysis is most valuable in heterogeneous environments, since habitat heterogeneity is a key factor in determining biodiversity. One such case can be seen in the changes in annual vegetation in coastal sand dune systems. Most studies in these environments are carried out at the dune scale, comparing dunes at different stabilization states. However, a broader understanding of dune stabilization processes requires analyses at the finer scales of dune slope aspects (directions of exposure to wind) and patches (under and between woody perennial species). Here, we present the results of a study that combines the three scales (dune, slope, and patch) in the Mediterranean coastal dune systems in Israel. Through this multi-scalar analysis, we are able to describe processes at the finer patch and aspect scale and explain how they shape patterns at the dune scale. The results indicate that the dune scale exposes the differences in annual plant characteristics between mobile and fixed dunes, their slopes and patches and the reorganization and spatial distribution of annual plants within mobile and fixed dunes during the stabilization process.