05B1
Black Sea wooded dunes
Relationships with habitat classifications. EUNIS: B1.7 Coastal dune woods; PAL. CLASS.: 16.29 Wooded dunes; HD 92/43: 2180 Wooded dunes of the Atlantic, Continental and Boreal region; Bondev (1991): 147 Psammophytous grass communities with a prevalence mostly of Leymeta racemosi, Ammophylleta arenariae, Galileeta mucronatae, Centaureeta arenariae, Trachomitum venetum and shrub communities with a prevalence of Cionureta erectae and others mostly on coastal sands.
Conservation status. BDA, BC, HD.
Category. Critically endangered [CR – A1, 2 C3 D3 E3 F2 G2 H3].
General characteristics. Natural or semi-natural tree and tree-shrub coenoses along the Black Sea coast, that occur only on the territory of two of the largest dune systems. They are most typical for Kaya Cape in Ropotamo Strict Nature Reserve covering the eastern, steep slopes of the biggest dune in Bulgaria, which is ca. 50 m high. There are fragments of wood coenoses also on the western, less steep slopes of this dune near the road Sozopol-Primorsko. The wood coenoses on the dune have typical xerothermic features, the trees are small and strongly branched. These coenoses are dominated by Carpinus orientalis, Fraxinus ornus, Quercus cerris, Q. frainetto, Q. pubescens. The occurrence of Celtis australis as an accompanying species is also typical. In some places the Oriental hornbeam forms a second forest layer and dominates secondarily. The shrub layer is well developed and has high projective cover. It is dominated by Ruscus aculeatus (whose projective cover in some places is up to 80%), Cotinus coggygria, Cornus mas, and the liana species Asparagus acutifolius. The species composition of the herbaceous layer is also diverse: Brachypodium pinnatum, Campanula persicifolia, Carex remota, Dactylis glomerata, Iris sintenisii, Lathyrus niger, Pteridium aquilinum, Vicia bithynica, etc.
The other area covered by wooded dunes is to the south, from the estuary of Kamchiya River. In the past such low dunes with wood vegetation occurred only in the transitional areas between the longoz forests along the rivers and the grey dunes where fragments with tree groups or single trees still exist. Many such dunes were destroyed by the plantations of Pinus maritima. The tree vegetation comprises mezophytic species typical for the region such as Acer campestre, Fraxinus oxycarpa, Quercus robur, Ulmus spp. and climbing species typical for the longoz forests such as Hedera helix, Periploca graeca, Smilax excelsa. This habitat type occurs also on a restricted area near Kranevo village (Baltata Managed Nature Reserve). It is possible that wooded dunes with similar species composition occurred also in Golden Sands, the estuary of Hadzhiyska River (today’s Sunny Beach resort), etc., where the longoz forests meet the large dune complexes but this habitat type was destroyed long ago.
Charactersitic taxa.
- Vascular plants: Carpinus orientalis, Dactylis glomerata, Fraxinus ornus, F. oxycarpa, Quercus cerris, Q. frainetto, Q. pubescens, Q. robur, Ruscus aculeatus.
- Fungi: Macromycetes– Astraeus hygrometricus, Brevicellicium olivascens, Clathrus archeri, Geastrum corollinum, Inocybe fuligineoatra, Phellinus rhamni; Micromycetes – Phyllactinia fraxini (on Fraxinus ornus), Septoria ascochytella (on Paliurus spina-christi).
Distribution in Bulgaria. Black Sea coast: only on Kaya Cape in Ropotamo reserve, and more restricted areas to the South of the estuary of Kamchia River and Baltata Managed Nature Reserve.
Conservation importance. As a consequence of the fact that this habitat is of restricted and specific distribution it is under a very serious risk of destruction. Although the species composition does not include many rare and protected species, the forest coenoses themselves are unique and of high conservation value. A fungus species of conservation significance is Clathrus archeri.
Threats. Intensive tourism development, building of new mega-tourist complexes, planting and natural invasion in the composition of the forest coenoses of alien tree species and ruderals (Amorpha fruticosa, Pinus maritima, Robinia pseudacacia); natural dynamics of the coastal sand stripe.
Conservation measures taken. The habitat is in Annex №1 of the national Biodiversity Act. A major part of this habitat is within the borders of protected areas: Ropotamo Strict Nature Reserve and Baltata Managed Nature Reserve and specific protected zones of the European Ecological Network NATURA 2000.
Conservation measures needed. Termination of construction activities, urbanization and degradation of the still remaining dunes and beaches along the Black Sea coast; restriction of the tourism impact; termination of the activities that are in contradiction to the management plans of the existing protected areas and the selected protected zones; restoration of the typical wood vegetation in the places where it was replaced by forest plantations.
References. Meshinev et al. 1982.
Authors: Rossen Tzonev, Chavdar Gussev
