Shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system

This article gives an overview of the shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.
Introduction.
The shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities of the NVC were described in Volume 5 of "British Plant Communities", first published in 2000, along with the other maritime communities (those of saltmarshes and maritime cliffs) and vegetation of open habitats.
In total, 19 shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities have been identified.
The shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities consist of a single community found on coastal shingle (SD1), two communities associated with strandlines (SD2 and SD3), and sixteen sand-dune communities.
The sand-dune communities fall into the following four groups:
Other communities occurring on sand-dunes.
There are a number of other communities which occur on sand-dunes, but are not classified as sand-dune communities within the NVC. Those listed in "British Plant Communities" are as follows:
List of shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities.
The following is a list of the communities that make up this category: