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The Cantabrian dune systems play an important role in protecting the coastal strip against extreme climatic and maritime events, as well as having a high conservation value as they are home to unique species exclusive to these ecosystems.

These species, which are part of the vegetation of coastal dunes, thrive under unfavourable and often extreme environmental conditions, including continuous exposure to salt spray , frequent burials under sand, flooding by seawater, long periods of drought, strong exposure to wind and high temperatures, high soil salinity and marine erosion. According to the entity, in the face of these extreme conditions, the species that have managed to adapt are fragile and scarce, and have a great similarity, morphological and functional in a large part of the temperate zones of the world.

In this delicate balance, according to the Foundation Institute of Environmental Hydraulics of Cantabria, the action of human activities has triggered an extensive ecological and morphological change. The destruction and fragmentation of coastal dune systems, and the processes related to their formation and maintenance, have led to the deterioration and loss of a large number of dune habitats and the proliferation of invasive species. As a result of this process, in Europe, today, the dune systems included in the Natura 2000 Network are the habitats with the lowest proportion of “favourable” assessments in their conservation status.

In this line, the SANDS project has sought to design a systematic, periodic and replicable monitoring network of the state of conservation of the Cantabrian dune ecosystems based on remote sensors. SANDS has also contributed to understanding the current extent and future trend of these habitats, assessing their functions and processes, and identifying hazards that threaten their conservation. The project has had, according to the entity, a demonstrative character, through the application of the methodology developed in Protected Natural Areas of the Atlantic Biogeographic Region.

The general objective of the project has been to design and implement a network to monitor the state of conservation of the Cantabrian dune ecosystems, based on the use of remote sensors.

The specific objectives were as follows:

• To design a network to monitor the state of conservation of the Cantabrian dune ecosystems .
• Analyze the functions and processes of the dune ecosystem.
• To evaluate the effects of anthropic and/or natural pressures on this ecosystem.
• Identify the priorities for the restoration and conservation of the dune ecosystem.
• Assess the extent of the ecosystem.
• To disseminate the project and raise awareness among the population about the value of dune ecosystems and the need to protect them.

• Design of a network to monitor the state of conservation of the Cantabrian dune ecosystems of the Atlantic Biogeographic Region, based on information from sensors that serves as an early warning system and allows intervention on the ecosystem in the event that its conservation is threatened.
• Evaluation of the extension of the dune ecosystem in 7 dune systems in the north of the Iberian Peninsula integrated into protected natural areas: Corrubedo Dunes Natural Park (Galicia), Barayo Partial Nature Reserve (Asturias), Liencres Dunes Natural Park (Cantabria), SAC Dunes of Puntal and Miera Estuary (Cantabria), Trengandín and Berria duran systems in the Santoña Marshes Natural Park (Cantabria) and Santiago dune system in the SAC Ría del Urola (Basque Country).
• Analysis of the effects of anthropic and/or natural pressures on the dune ecosystem, carried out in four dune systems: Liencres, El Puntal, Trengandín and Berria.
• Evaluation of the state of conservation and identification of the priorities for the conservation and restoration of the Cantabrian dune ecosystems, applied in these four dune systems.
• Analysis of the functions and processes of the dune ecosystem, allowing the identification of vegetated dune communities and differentiation between their plant strata.
• Dissemination and communication of the project.

The project has made it possible to design and implement a systematic, periodic and replicable monitoring network of the conservation status of the dune systems of the Atlantic biogeographic region, based on the information provided by images obtained from airborne and satellite remote sensors.

To characterise the spatial distribution patterns of vegetation, the methodology has been applied in seven dune systems in the north of the Iberian Peninsula integrated into protected natural areas: Corrubedo Dunes Natural Park (Galicia), Barayo Partial Nature Reserve (Asturias), Liencres Dunes Natural Park (Cantabria), SAC Dunes of Puntal and Miera Estuary (Cantabria). Trengandín and Berria duran systems in the Santoña Marshes Natural Park (Cantabria), and Santiago dune system in the Ría del Urola SAC (Basque Country). Once its validity has been tested, this method has been applied in the four Cantabrian dune systems of Liencres, El Puntal, Trengandín and Berria, where the extension of their vegetated communities, their physiological state (functions) and the level of pressure to which they are subjected have been evaluated.

The results obtained show that, for the most part, the dune systems studied are in a favourable state of conservation, although with signs of alteration due to the action of anthropic pressures and with a real risk of structural erosion (long-term retreat of the coastline), in future scenarios of climate change and that could reach the dunes of Puntal and Somo. This threat has different characteristics in each of the systems: while some are affected by the retreat of the coastline, in the vast majority of them the main threat is the occurrence of extreme erosive events. The structural erosion study shows a retreat of the coastline that affects the entire dry beach, reaching the dune in El Puntal and Somo, in practically all future scenarios.

Regarding the analysis of the distribution of vegetated dune communities, a positive trend has been shown in the extension of the vegetated dune system of El Puntal and Trengandín, while Liencres and Berria show a slightly negative trend. In addition, the indicator of the physiological state of the dune plant communities shows a stable, or slightly positive, trend in the set of dune systems analyzed. Likewise, the four dune systems analyzed are anthropically altered, either by their nature or by their degree of intervention. However, none of them has ended up being classified as a priority for conservation, although Liencres has an “unfavourable” state of conservation and has been catalogued as a priority for restoration.

On the other hand, the entity highlights the significant effort made in the dissemination and dissemination of its results, materialized in the creation of a website, 2 press releases, a radio appearance, a video, 12 publications on Twitter, 4 on Instagram and 5 on LinkedIn, the edition of a triptych of the project, didactic material and a manual aimed at managers, and the holding of two workshops with schoolchildren, with 84 participants.

Finally, the entity has prepared a manual that identifies the applications of remote sensing for monitoring the state of conservation of dune systems. This document is mainly aimed at the administrations responsible for the management of protected natural areas and, in particular, at managers and technicians involved in the monitoring of protected habitats and species. It includes the lessons learned in the project and addresses aspects such as the utilities of remote sensing, the characteristics of the images, the importance of predictor variables, the use of multitemporal data and the quality of classification in areas with low species coverage, in areas with stable environmental conditions and in areas with changing environmental conditions.