Monitoring your dune vegetation - it’s easy!
The Coastal Restoration Trust has developed an easy-to-use method for quantifying the vegetation cover and profile of sand dunes that can be undertaken by anyone from coast care groups to management agencies.
Using consistent repeatable methods to assess dunes will highlight changes that may be occurring such as an increase in aggressive weeds on your dunes. Monitoring will assist you to understand your dunes and set priorities for restoration and management of them.
Step-by-step overview
Click the “More information” link for any of the steps in the overview to see more detailed information for that step.
- 1
Creating a new site
Check the Survey Data or Print Survey Sheets sections of this website to see if the site you will be surveying already exists in the Coastal Monitoring Database. If it does you’re ready for step 2. If it doesn’t, ask the data administrator for your group to create the new site.
- 2
Printing survey sheets
In the Print Survey Sheets section of this website, navigate to the site you will be surveying. Select an existing transect or select “New transect” if you will be establishing a new transect at the site. The “Print Survey Sheet” button generates a sheet ready for printing on A4 paper.
- 3
Gathering survey equipment
You’ll need a number of pieces of equipment to perform a survey.
- 4
Identifying plants
The rapid-point survey method involves identifying plants, and there are resources available to help you do this.
- 5
Locating or establishing transects
Locate the start point if you are re-surveying an existing transect, or follow the guidelines for establishing new transects.
- 6
Surveying vegetation cover
Use the rapid-point sampling method to survey the vegetation along the transect.
- 7
Recording dune profiles
Measure the dune contour along the transect using an inclinometer app.
- 8
Taking photos at photopoints
Follow the tips to take a photo at a fixed point on the transect.