VEGETATION OF THE SANDY SOILS NEAR CAESAREA, ISRAEL. I. PLANT COMMUNITIES, ENVIRONMENT AND SUCCESSION

ABSTRACT Hills of aeolianitic sandstone (Kurkar) in the vicinity of Caesarea are dominated by the CERATONIETO-PISTACIETUM ARENARIUM association. Species common in more humid Mediterranean plant communities elsewhere occur where lenses of sandy loam soil (Hamra) are interbedded in the Kurkar sequence. When covered with young blown sand, plant succession and pedogenetic processes take place in the following sequence: (1) AMMOPHILETUM LITORAL AE occupies mobile sands, (2) species-poor ARTEMISIETUM MONOSPERMAE is found on rough topography and (3) species-rich ARTEMISIETUM MONOSPERMAE is on smoother topography. Another sequence is: (1) Helianthemum stipulatum-Retama raetam association on stable sand poor in humus, (2) H. stipulatum-R. raetam association on sands richer in humus, (3) H. stipulatum-Pistacia lentiscus association on sands with more humus and (4) CERATONIETO-PISTACIETUM ARENARIUM as the climax on the sands richest in humus. It is not clear how these two sequences are syngenetically related. The se...