 In accreting situations small mounds of vegetation or tide-washed debris form and tend to enlarge as the wind-speed drops in the lee of the mound, allowing blowing sand (picked up from the off-shore banks) to fall out of the air stream.The pioneering plants are physiologically adapted to withstand the problems of high salt contents in the air and soil, and are good examples of stress tolerators, as well as having some ruderal characteristics.On the inland side of dunes conditions are less severe, and links type grasslands develop with a range of grassland herbs which benefit from the reasonable nutrient status and moderately high pH of the more stable soils, especially when enough humus has accumulated in stabilised soils for water retention to be improved.