The beach has three major parts: beach face, berm and back beach. The area above the water, including the intertidal zone, is known as the beach berm. Beach berm can include vegetation, such as trees, shrubs, or grasses. The most familiar characteristic of a beach berm is its type of sand or rock (Marinebio.net, 2014). Along the backshore, accumulations of wind-blown sand may form sand dunes, and when these are sufficiently stable they become consolidated by a characteristic dune vegetation, for example marram grass (Ammophila arenaria), sand couch grass (Agropyron junceiforme) and sand sedge (Carex arenaria). The beach face is the zone of most active change. Its inclination may vary from a few degrees to as much as 30 degrees. This slope
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In sand containing much fine material the deposit remains waterlogged throughout the tidal cycle, but in coarse sands the water table may drop considerably as the tide recedes. Even where there is air in the sand its humidity is high, and burrowing creatures are not in appreciable danger of desiccation (J.M. Baker and W.J. Wolff, 2009). The deeper-dwelling forms are also well insulated from surface fluctuations of temperature and salinity, which seldom produce much effect below a depth of a few inches. However, many burrowing animals descend deeper in the sand during winter than in summer within temperate areas (Marinebio.net, …show more content…
Within the intertidal area of the sandy beach of Las Cuevas exist no plants and the majority of the animals are too minute in size to notice. These species usually burrow deep in the sand as explained earlier to hide from the drying sun at low tide. In addition, the sand buffers these animals from extremes in temperature and salinity. Animals found in a typical sandy shore are clams, whelks, worms, sand hoppers, crabs, sea lice, sand dollars, and a host of smaller animals as well as protozoans, microscopic plants, and bacteria. They are found in different zones of the beach which moves up and down the beach with the tides. Examples of animals found higher up the beach are Kelp wrack, Snowy plover and Beach hoppers (refer to Picture
In sand containing much fine material the deposit remains waterlogged throughout the tidal cycle, but in coarse sands the water table may drop considerably as the tide recedes. Even where there is air in the sand its humidity is high, and burrowing creatures are not in appreciable danger of desiccation (J.M. Baker and W.J. Wolff, 2009). The deeper-dwelling forms are also well insulated from surface fluctuations of temperature and salinity, which seldom produce much effect below a depth of a few inches. However, many burrowing animals descend deeper in the sand during winter than in summer within temperate areas (Marinebio.net, …show more content…
Within the intertidal area of the sandy beach of Las Cuevas exist no plants and the majority of the animals are too minute in size to notice. These species usually burrow deep in the sand as explained earlier to hide from the drying sun at low tide. In addition, the sand buffers these animals from extremes in temperature and salinity. Animals found in a typical sandy shore are clams, whelks, worms, sand hoppers, crabs, sea lice, sand dollars, and a host of smaller animals as well as protozoans, microscopic plants, and bacteria. They are found in different zones of the beach which moves up and down the beach with the tides. Examples of animals found higher up the beach are Kelp wrack, Snowy plover and Beach hoppers (refer to Picture