{"id":457346,"date":"2026-03-09T10:51:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/news\/scomparsa_dune\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T09:23:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:23:59","slug":"scomparsa_dune","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/en\/news\/scomparsa_dune\/","title":{"rendered":"Where dunes once stood, the sea has taken over: twenty years of coastline change at San Rossore and Calambrone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly twenty years later, researchers from the University of Pisa returned to the exact same points along the coastline between Pisa and Livorno <\/strong>where surveys had been carried out between 2005 and 2007. The result is stark: in many cases, where there were once dunes, there is now sea. The findings emerge from a study published in the international journal Regional Studies in Marine Science<\/em><\/a>, which re-examined 24 plots \u2014 defined as the areas within which vegetation surveys were conducted \u2014 in the San Rossore Estate and 28 in Calambrone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Along the 12 kilometres of coastline at San Rossore<\/strong>, between the mouths of the Serchio and Arno rivers, only 13 of the original 24 plots were relocated<\/strong>: many no longer exist because they are now literally underwater, as a result of coastal erosion. Along the 3.5 kilometres of coastline at Calambrone<\/strong>, the situation is equally critical, although for different reasons. All six plots located closest to the shoreline twenty years ago have disappeared<\/strong>, replaced by beach establishments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we returned to the same coordinates with the GPS data from twenty years ago,\u201d explains Professor Daniela Ciccarelli<\/strong> of the Department of Biology at the University of Pisa, \u201cin some cases there was no longer a dune, no longer even a beach \u2014 there was the sea. This means we have physically lost sections of coastline and habitats protected at European level.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the European Union\u2019s Habitats Directive, 89% of dune habitats in Italy are considered at risk<\/strong>. The new local data confirm a broader trend of degradation which, in the Pisa area, has a dual dimension.<\/p>\n

At San Rossore, erosion is the dominant factor<\/strong>. Between 1938 and 2005, the shoreline retreated by up to 400 metres in the most affected areas, equivalent to 6.8 metres per year. This is compounded by vegetation changes, including the expansion of invasive species such as Ailanthus altissima<\/em>, which promote the replacement of open sandy habitats with denser formations less typical of dune ecosystems.<\/p>\n

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\"foto<\/p>\n

At Calambrone, by contrast, the main pressure is anthropogenic<\/strong>. In 2024, more than 2.1 million tourist presences were recorded along the Pisan coastline. Mechanical beach cleaning and constant trampling<\/strong> primarily affect annual plant species closest to the sea, such as Cakile maritima<\/em>, which survive the winter as seeds buried in the sand.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlants that grow closest to the shoreline are often annuals,\u201d Ciccarelli explains, \u201cand they remain beneath the sand as seeds. If mechanical cleaning is carried out at the start of the bathing season, seeds and fruits are removed along with the waste. As a result, the habitat is no longer able to regenerate properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even an apparently positive finding \u2014 such as the increase in the number of species observed at Calambrone \u2014 conceals a signal of ecological impoverishment<\/strong>. The study recorded a decline in species such as Calamagrostis arenaria<\/em> and Sporobolus pumilus<\/em>, whose root systems stabilise and consolidate dunes. \u201cIt is not a true increase in biodiversity,\u201d the professor clarifies, \u201cbut rather a loss of the ecosystem\u2019s functional identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study forms part of the national ReSurveyDunes project, launched in 2023<\/strong> to assess changes in dune vegetation across Italy. The added value of the Pisa research<\/strong> lies precisely in the direct comparison<\/strong> between past and present conditions at the same sites over a twenty-year interval<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The recommendations that emerge for managing the situation are concrete and low-cost: reducing mechanical beach cleaning, installing wooden walkways<\/strong> to channel visitor flows and prevent widespread trampling, limiting the expansion of beach facilities onto dunes, and strengthening control measures against invasive species<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not only about saying what should not be done,\u201d Ciccarelli concludes, \u201cbut about explaining why dunes have fundamental ecological value<\/strong>: they protect the coastline, host unique species and represent a natural heritage that, once lost, is extremely difficult to restore.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A University of Pisa study, conducted within the national ReSurvey Dunes project and published in the journal Regional Studies in Marine Science<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":456916,"menu_order":4,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"tag-notizie-persone":[],"tags_news":[281,205],"categorie":[159],"class_list":["post-457346","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tags_news-department-of-biology","tags_news-sostainability","categorie-unipinews-en"],"yoast_head":"\nWhere dunes once stood, the sea has taken over: twenty years of coastline change at San Rossore and Calambrone ~ UNIPI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unipi.it\/en\/news\/scomparsa_dune\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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