Exploring the contributions of vegetation and dune size to early dune development using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging

作者：Marinka van Puijenbroek, Corjan Nolet, A.V. de Groot, Juha Suomalainen, Michel Riksen, Frank Berendse, Juul Limpens · 发表于：Biogeosciences · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.5194/bg-14-5533-2017 · 被引用次数：60 · 研究领域：Aeolian processes and effects、Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics、Geology and Paleoclimatology Research

Abstract. Dune development along highly dynamic land–sea boundaries is the result of interaction between vegetation and dune size with sedimentation and erosion processes. Disentangling the contribution of vegetation characteristics from that of dune size would improve predictions of nebkha dune development under a changing climate, but has proven difficult due to the scarcity of spatially continuous monitoring data. This study explored the contributions of vegetation and dune size to dune development for locations differing in shelter from the sea. We monitored a natural nebkha dune field of 8 ha, along the coast of the island Texel, the Netherlands, for 1 year using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with camera. After constructing a digital surface model and orthomosaic we derived for each dune (1) vegetation characteristics (species composition, vegetation density, and maximum vegetation height), (2) dune size (dune volume, area, and maximum height), (3) degree of shelter (proximity to other nebkha dunes and the sheltering by the foredune). Changes in dune volume over summer and winter were related to vegetation, dune size and degree of shelter. We found that a positive change in dune volume (dune growth) was linearly related to initial dune volume over summer but not over winter. Big dunes accumulated more sand than small dunes due to their larger surface area. Exposed dunes increased more in volume (0.81 % per dune per week) than sheltered dunes (0.2 % per dune per week) ...