A dune is a hill of sand built up by the wind.
Bare dunes are subject to shifting location and size based on their interaction with the wind.
Some species of plants will colonize and stabilize a dune, but they represent a fragile ecosystem . Also, a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert Briefly, Dune chronicles the conflict between the aristocratic houses Atreides and Harkonnen, behind whom lurks the power of the Emperor and the Spacing Guild which has a monopoly on interstellar transport. In a Harkonnen attack, Paul Atreides, the ducal heir, loses his family, but is embraced by the indigenous Fremen as their messiah. In accepting the mantle of godhood, Paul launches the Atreides on a course that spans 10,000 years through the next five books. The emphasis on ecological and religious ideas and the use of Middle Eastern cultural themes made the novel a provocative departure from previous science fiction.