Sandy Beach Ecosystem

How do humans impact this ecosystem?

Humans affect the beaches in many ways. Some include, littering and dumping sewage and trash into the oceans, and oil spills.

Ways we can fix this pollution is not allowing trash that isn't biodegradable (paper bags, etc.) onto the beaches at any time. Also, to prevent things like oil spills, there could be stricter laws about how to properly handle oil and keep a better eye out for leaks and decay.

What are the habitats like?

Sandy beaches are the homes for many different species of animals. For instance, crabs are more likely to live under the sand or in the water, while birds will create nests on the dunes and nearby trees. Sea turtles make their nests in the sands of the beaches, and many different bacterias make their homes in the sand. However, there are also many challenges to living on the beach. Some include humans, and predators such as birds, and other sea life.

Super Duper cool things about Sandy Beaches!

There are seven quintillion five quadrillion grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. That's a 75 with 17 zeros following! (7.5x10^18).

Food Web of a Sandy Beach

What is a Sandy Beach?

Some of the key factors that makes a sandy beach is the sand. There are three types of beaches, dissipative (wide and flat) and reflective (narrow and steep). reflective beaches are more known to be in the tropics, while dissipative beaches are more known to be in temperate regions. Dissipative beaches are also erosional, while reflective are accretional (the process of growth or increase, typically by the gradual accumulation of additional layers or matter.) Beaches are closely linked to nearshore surf zones and coastal dunes through the storage, transport and exchange of sand. Sand transport is the highest in exposed surf zones and sand storage often the greatest in well-developed dunes.

Ecosystem of a Sandy Beach (abiotic factors)

The amount of abiotic factors (the parts of an ecosystem that are non-living, and have never been living) of this ecosystem are very small. The sun, wind, sand, the water, and rocks.

Ecosystem of a Sandy Beach (biotic factors)

Sandy beaches generally lack attached plants in the intertidal zone (the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide) . Most species found on beaches are found in no other environment. Some of these species include, small interstitial organisms (bacteria, protozoans and small metazoans), worms, clams, whelks, crustaceans, and many species of birds. These are also some of the major biotic factors of this ecosystem, also including America Beach Grass, Coastal Panic Grass, and Seabeach Sandwort.

citations

• http://obpa-nc.org/DOI-AdminRecord/0067932-0067952.pdf
• http://w3.shorecrest.org/~Lisa_Peck/MarineBio/syllabus/ch11_ecosystems/ecosystem_wp/sandybeach_kristen_eric/foodweb.html
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/379348/Gulf-of-Mexico/33262/The-impact-of-human-activity
• http://www.greenfudge.org/2013/05/04/how-can-future-oil-spills-be-prevented/
• http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/habitats/beaches3.htm
• http://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_grains_of_sand_are_there_in_the_world

Sandy Beach Ecosystem