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Who lives on the dunes?
Crowberry dunes are one of the area’s most significant habitat types. The crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) growing on the soft sand is easily damaged, which is why boardwalks and nature trails have been built for visitors. To protect this fragile vegetation, it is essential not to walk outside the marked routes.
The barren, nutrient-poor crowberry dunes begin behind the open coastal dunes and lie closer to the forest. Crowberry dunes are characterised by their flat terrain and the scarcity of trees and shrubs. Alongside crowberry, common plant species include bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and creeping willow (Salix repens). Crowberry dunes are also known as brown dunes. Their thin, easily damaged layer of humus and vegetation gives them their distinctive brown colour.
Open dune habitats provide an important home for many endangered insects. One such insect is the ling runner (Scythris empetrella), a moth that depends on a habitat with just the right amount of shifting sand. The larvae of the ling runner live inside the root masses of crowberry plants in fine, loose sand. At night, the larvae feed on crowberry leaves.
Sources: Raunio Anne, Schulman Anna, Kontula Tytti. Itämeri ja rannikko (The Baltic Sea and the Coast). Suomen ympäristö 8/2008, Part 2. The Finnish Environment Institute.