Introduction

Lying at the margin of muddy/sandy foreshores and the land, saltmarsh has characteristics of both the marine and terrestrial environment. Many ecological textbooks describe the ‘natural’ saltmarsh succession. Some of the early classic ecological studies were of the saltmarsh vegetation on the North Norfolk coast (see, e.g. Chapman 1938, 1939, 1941) or the Dovey Estuary in west Wales (Yapp et al. 1917). These early studies helped provide the basis, not only for describing saltmarsh development, but also as part of a wider understanding of vegetation succession. The relationship between tidal inundation and the parallel spatial zonation, often observed within the habitat, was established. The importance of soil properties, plant species strategies, community structure and function as well as trophic relationships and energy flows were also identified and further elaborated (e.g. Ranwell 1972; Long & Mason 1983). Other work relates the vegetation to its geomorphological origins (see in particular Adam 1990).