Based on three decades of field experience in southwest Asia, southern Africa, and the southwest United States, the author summarizes the major adaptations of plants to desert dunes. This integrative study of plant and diaspore morphology, reactive growth, life cycles, and environmental factors explains and predicts plant distribution. Many kinds of dune syndromes, plant case studies and vegetation transects are discussed and illustrated to clarify the significance of adaptations to specific habitat factors. Although the focus is on vascular plants, the development of microbiotic soil crust, its function, and its composition are discussed as well.

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- 2 Sand Deserts of the World.- 2.1 Distribution of Sand Dunes.- 2.2 Sand Mobility.- 3 Environmental Stresses in the Sand Desert.- 3.1 Substrate Stability.- 3.2 Moisture Regime.- 3.3 Nutrients.- 4 Habitat Types of Desert Dunes.- 4.1 Mobile Dunes.- 4.2 Stable Dunes.- 4.3 Sites of Constant Deflation.- 4.4 Sand Covering Other Substrates.- 5 Plant Case Histories and Ecomorphological Types.- 5.1 Species Requiring Sand Accumulation - Stipagrostis scoparia Type.- 5.2 Species Resistant to Deep Sand Cover or Removal - Calligonum comosum Type.- 5.3 Species of Areas with Modest Sand Cover or Removal - Stipagrostis plumosa Type.- 5.4 Species Actively Resistant to Sand Deflation - Moltkiopsis ciliata Type.- 5.5 Passive Resistant Species to Sand Deflation - Convolvulus lanatus Type.- 5.6 Herbaceous Perennial Species of Stable Sand Sheets - Stipagrostis obtusa Type.- 5.7 Shrubs and Semishrubs of Stable Sand Sheets - Hammada salicornica Type.- 5.8 Annuals and Facultative Annuals (Amphiphytes).- 5.9 Coastal Dunes Plants.- 5.10 Sand Grains Coating Leaves and Stems.- 5.11 Microbiotic Crust.- 6 Typical Transects in a Few Plant Communities and Their Edaphic Relationships.- 6.1 A Successional Sequence in the Haluza Dunes, Israel.- 6.2 Stable Dunes on Old Sandstones in the Yamin-Rotem Plain, Israel.- 6.3 Dunes Covering Stable Sand Sheets in Northern Sinai.- 6.4 Sand Covering Salt Marshes in Sinai, Namibia, and California.- 6.5 Sand Covering Fresh Water Aquifers.- 6.6 Sand Covering Limestone Hills, Western Sinai.- 6.7 Eureka Dunes, California.- 6.8 The Kelso Dunes, California.- 7 Plant Adaptations to Environmental Stresses in Desert Dunes.- 7.1 Convergence and Adaptation.- 7.2 Reactive Growth and Sand Mobility.- 7.3 Adaptations of the Main Organs.- 8 Comparison Between Plants ofDesert Dunes, Extreme Desert, and Coastal Dunes.- 8.1 Comparison of Desert and Coastal Dunes.- 8.2 Morphological Differences Between Dune Plants of Desert and Coastal Areas.- 8.3 Morphological Evidence for Delimiting Dunes of Extreme Desert and Desert.- List of Higher Plant Names with Authors, Synonyms, and Family Name.- References.- Plant Name Index.