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Coastal strand is a plant community of flowering plants that form along the shore in loose sand just above the high tide line. Many plants that grow in this area are endemic to the strand. The community has low species diversity because so few plants can tolerate the harsh conditions of high winds, battering salt spray, and extreme high ...
A marine coastal ecosystem is a marine ecosystem which occurs where the land meets the ocean. Worldwide there is about 620,000 kilometres (390,000 mi) of coastline. Coastal habitats extend to the margins of the continental shelves, occupying about 7 percent of the ocean surface area.
The salinity levels in brackish marshes can range from 0.5 ppt to 35 ppt. [2] Marshes are also characterised by low-growing vegetation and bare mud or sand flats. [3] Due to the variations in salinity, brackish marshes create a distinctive ecosystem where plants from either freshwater or saltwater marshes can co-inhabit. [4]
The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse due to convergent evolution in several plant families. They occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics and even some temperate coastal areas, mainly between latitudes 30° N and 30° S, with the greatest mangrove area within ...
Seagrass meadows provide coastal storm protection by the way their leaves absorb energy from waves as they hit the coast. They keep coastal waters healthy by absorbing bacteria and nutrients, and slow the speed of climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide into the sediment of the ocean floor.
One example is the rare Torrey pine (Pinus torreyana), which is only native to the coastal bluffs in Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve near San Diego, and off the coast on Santa Rosa Island. [4] Another example is the Tecate Cypress ( Cupressus forbesii ), which only occurs in four stands near the Mexican border of California.
In Somalia and Kenya, scrub forest grows in a band between coastal forests and the drier bushlands of the interior. [1] It is also found near the coast in Kenya and Tanzania, often on coral rag. [1] [3] Swamp forest grows in limited areas in the coastal lowlands, often inland from coastal mangroves and exending along the lower reaches of rivers.
It can manifest in an ecosystem from the abiotic or biotic characteristics of the environment. For example, coastal mangrove forests are located at the land-sea interface, so their functioning is influenced by abiotic factors such as tides, as well as biotic factors such as the extent and configuration of adjacent vegetation. [40]