Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Blowout located 6.5 km south of Earth, Texas (1996). Blowouts are sandy depressions in a sand dune ecosystem caused by the removal of sediments by wind.. Commonly found in coastal settings and margins of arid areas, blowouts tend to form when wind erodes patches of bare sand on stabilized vegetated dunes.
Sand dunes are an important part of the coast as they are land's first defence against the forces of the ocean. Because of this, management of sand dunes will focus on the natural authenticity and values of the dunes themselves including flora, fauna, and the ecosystem as a whole. The concept of integrated management can be incorporated into ...
Wrack line on a sandy beach adjacent to a sand dune ecosystem. Beach wrack or marine wrack is organic material (e.g. kelp, seagrass, driftwood) and other debris deposited at high tide on beaches and other coastal areas. This material acts as a natural input of marine resources into a terrestrial system, providing food and habitat for a variety ...
Sand dune ecology describes the biological and physico-chemical interactions that are a characteristic of sand dunes. Sand dune systems are excellent places for biodiversity, partly because they are not very productive for agriculture, and partly because disturbed, stressful, and stable habitats are present in proximity to each other.
A vital function of the dune fields is storing snowmelt and rain which support vegetation and wildlife. Water percolates deep into sand where it is safe from evaporating winds and sun. Such water is stored for access by basin large sagebrush and other vegetation depending upon the dunes' degree of stabilization.
Fire in Florida scrub is infrequent but intense, characterized as "catastrophic" or "stand-replacing". Any sand pines in a scrub are killed by such fires, while shrubs burn down to the ground. Fire causes sand pine cones to open and release their seeds to replace the stand. Most shrubs regrow from their roots, while rosemary regrows from seed. [18]
[7] [9] [13] [14] Ammophila arenaria built foredunes (the dunes closest to the beach) that are typically about 14 feet (4.3 m) high, which is much higher than the dunes associated with the native dune grass species Leymus mollis. [15] In the 1930s, A. breviligulata was introduced to about 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) on the Clatsop Peninsula in Oregon.
A large dune complex is called a dune field, [7] while broad, flat regions covered with wind-swept sand or dunes, with little or no vegetation, are called ergs or sand seas. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, but most kinds of dunes are longer on the stoss (upflow) side, where the sand is pushed up the dune, and have ...