Dune flora can emerge from seed islands (Concon, Chile)

The study of species within natural communities, which has progressed remarkably in recent decades, is of great interest in the field of ecology. Through the process of characterizing dunes, mounds of sand formed by the wind, and their plant communities we can get to know the physiognomy and floristic composition of the territory. However, little is known about how these plant communities originate. Based on the hypothesis that dune flora can emerge from seed islands: holes in the sand 6 cm deep containing a mixture of seeds, broken branches of shrubbery, and rabbit feces, during spring, we determined the composition of 20 seed islands in the sand dunes of Concon, Chile and measured how many seeds germinated in each one. In support of our hypothesis, we found that, on average, four seeds germinated in each seed island.