The Study of a Psammosere Succession.

Have a little read: ... The Study of a Psammosere Succession By Peter Wilby Introduction I have decided to study a Psammosere for my A2 geography project, and research into specific factors that affect the dune system. I will investigate the reasons for the change in the dune's appearance and how these factors have made the dunes form in this particular way. The reason for why I chose to study a Psammosere is that I wanted to expand on the knowledge I already had on a dune system. I have come up with various hypotheses of the sand dune formation, which I hope to prove or disprove. These are: * There is a distinct sequence of dune succession; * The amount of vegetation cover and the number of species both increase the further inland you are; * Moisture content and organic matter increases the further inland you are; * Wind speeds decrease further inland; * Human activity directly changes and damages the dune, and can have an effect on the dune shape. The project was carried out on Oxwich Bay, which is in the Gower Peninsula, South Wales. I chose to study my project here because I had already been there on a previous geography project, so I knew it was a nice location with a good dune system. The dunes had good structure and will have signs of human activity, as many people around the area tend to go on walks across the dunes and the beach, which will allow me to see what affect humans have on the dune system, as a whole. Overall, I would be able to collect a sensible and accurate set of results for the hypotheses I was covering. Map of Study Area Methodology I decided to test two of the hypotheses listed in the introduction, and incorporate the other hypotheses into the two I chose. The hypotheses are: 1. Human activity affects the way in which the dunes are formed, and the cosmetics of the dunes. 2. The amount of vegetation cover and the number of species both increase the further inland you are. To be able to test these hypotheses, I had to measure various aspects of the sand dunes. The aspects that I measured were: o The angle of the slopes o The distance between each sample point o The amount of vegetation o The wind speeds o The number of species o The moisture and organic matter content of the soil. o Human impacts I decided to use a stratified sampling method, which meant that I took a