Sandy+Beach+and+Dune

Sandy Beach and Dune
// Location // This biome can be found only along the coast, where the ocean meets the shore. It can be found in Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

// Abiotic conditions // The general abiotic conditions of the biological community that exists in the sandy beach and dune biome are rough, as the waves crash over and change the sandy bottom every few seconds. There are very few nutrients in the harsh, variable sand.

// Native species // Some native species of sandy beach and dune habitats include rodents, such as the southeastern beach mouse, rabbits, such as the eastern cottontail rabbit, and other mammals such as foxes and raccoons. Shorebirds like the American oystercatcher and Wilson's plover also feed and nest in dune habitats. Finally, reptiles such as green and brown anoles and eastern diamondback lizards live in dune systems.

// Invasive species // One invasive species is the Asiatic sand sedge, which can shut out native dune grasses like American beach grass and sea oats. This causes dunes to become more vulnerable to erosion from wind and storms. It was introduced in order to hold down sand in areas suffering from erosion, and may have spread after being used to pack ship cargo. It is found in coastal areas from Massachusetts to North Carolina.

//Indicator species// The piping plover is an indicator species, allowing scientists to study the conditions on beaches. These birds also eat insects and small crustaceans, controlling those populations on beaches. Piping plovers are susceptible to degradation of habitat through development and artificial beach stabilization, predation, disturbance by humans, sand and gravel mining, and incasive species, and thus are good indicators of the health of an ecosystem.

//Keystone species// Sea otters are a keystone species in the sandy beach and dune biome. They, as predators, help keep the population of sea urchins down, which in turn reduces the urchins eating brown algae and kelp, which fish need to survive.

//Interspecies competition avoidance// The southeastern beach mouse has a different habitat from many other small mammals living in a sandy beach and dune biome. They do not interact much with other species that might need the same resources as they do.

//Predator-prey relationship// A moon snail, which lives in the sandy, muddy bottom, has a predator-prey relationship with clams. It searches blindly through the muck, and once it has discovered a clam, it will drill a hole in its victim's shell, sucking out the soft tissue inside.

//Symbiotic relationship// Dune grasses have a mutual symbiotic relationship with fungi that live underground. This mutualism provides water and nutrients for the dune grasses from the fungi, while the fungi receive food in the form of carbohydrates from the dune grass.

// Current Events //

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This article describes the invasive species European beach grass dominating over the native Tidestrom's lupine in the Point Reyes National Seashore. The beach grass provides cover for deer mice, a native species, whose population is now increasing beyond normal numbers.

//Citations://

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