Seashores: An Ecological Guide
Julian Cremona
Language: English
Pages: 192
ISBN: 1847978045
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A detailed examination of the features which define a coast and the various types of ecosystems found along the seashore—with more than 400 photographs
This fascinating guide provides an easy-to-use, authoritative reference to commonly occurring organisms. By looking at the habitats of the coastline, it focuses on key species you are likely to find. The book explains how these organisms have adapted, and how they are able to cope with the environmental stresses of the seashore. With more than 400 color photographs, the guide looks first at the physical and biological features that determine our coast before surveying the variety of communities that exist on shores, including rocky shores, sand and mud, estuaries, salt-marshes, sand dunes, shingles, and plankton. Aimed at naturalists, environmentalists, photographers, ecologists, and seaside communities, this beautiful guide is a reference book readers will want to keep close when exploring the shore.
Fig. 2.165 Hermit Crab: common in rockpools they often have a covering on the shell, here a sponge Suberites. Fig. 2.166 Hermit Crab: shell is covered in a hydroid colony of Hydractinia. Beneficial to both animals, the host has increased crypsis and the sessile animal on the shell is moved ensuring fresh supplies of enriched water for filter feeding. Feeding mechanisms of animals Summary of methods Plankton and detritus feeders: these animals can be called both suspension or filter feeders
below the marsh is a gley type, that is, based on alluvial material. Salt-marsh development encourages animal species to colonize and over time typical communities form. Fig. 5.2 Profile of a salt-marsh. Salt-marshes are high in nutrients as organic matter accumulates with the saline sediments. As a consequence much of this land has been reclaimed and cultivated by humans. To prevent the daily waterlogging by tides, sea walls and dykes are built to keep the water at bay. Salt-marsh formation
very dim with little light for photosynthesis. Blue and, especially, red light quickly diminish with depth; green light reaches the deepest. This means that in seawater there is reduced light and much of it will be green. In the lower shore this will be particularly so and that is where many red seaweeds grow. They have pigments with the ability to absorb green and blue light and when we look at them, out of the water, we are seeing them in an environment where there is red light but as they are
INTRODUCTION Where would you like to go on holiday? When asked people often say ‘sea, sand, and sun’. Where did this love for the seaside begin? The early Britons were certainly coast dwellers. The wild woods prevented the crossing of the land and protection was often best on promontory headlands where we see the remains of Bronze and Iron Age forts. Domestication of the coastal vegetation, like carrots and cabbage, gave us the veggies we have today. Scavenging between the tides provided a host
seahorses. Marine conservation still has a long way to go. The Council of Europe Ministers officially adopted the European Code of Conduct for Coastal Zones, an initiative of the European Union for Coastal Conservation, which launched the idea in 1993. The documents can be viewed on their website. Fig. 8.7 Human impact on eel grass beds. Why conserve? Seashores are some of the most beautiful and spiritual places on earth. They are some of the most biodiverse environments and as a result of