Wild Plants Inhabiting on the Sand Fore-coasts of Shandong Peninsula
山东半岛滨海沙滩前缘的野生植物

Sand-coasts, by their nature, result from moving seawater. Plants adapt to these unique environments may differ from those of inland sand areas. We surveyed plants inhabiting sand fore-coasts in the Shandong peninsula of China. The dominant species were distinct from inland species and were mainly Carex kobomugi, Calystegia soldanella, Ischaemum bartatum, Vitex trifolia var. simplicifolia, Carex pumila and Messerschmidia sibirica. Any member of the group could dominate a plant community and therefore tended to compete with or repel one another but were compatible with species not in the group. Over time, those dominant species must have adapted to storm surges; otherwise they would not have survived in this harsh environment nor been dominant. To protect and conserve the sand fore-coast plant species and environments, these groups of species could be introduced and cultivated for food crops to help minimize destruction in their place of origin. In doing so, the natural association between different species should be considered.