Difference between revisions of "State of the Beach/State Reports/CA/Beach Ecology"

From Beachapedia

m (Unprotected "State of the Beach/State Reports/CA/Beach Ecology": Allow editing of SOTB pages (templates still protected))
m (Added HasBadLinks Category)
Line 140: Line 140:
  
 
{{SOB_BottomNav}}
 
{{SOB_BottomNav}}
 +
[[Category:HasBadLinks]]

Revision as of 15:18, 10 April 2011

Home Beach Indicators Methodology Findings Beach Manifesto State Reports Chapters Perspectives Model Programs Bad and Rad Conclusion


California Ratings
Indicator Type Information Status
Beach Access98
Water Quality85
Beach Erosion6-
Erosion Response-6
Beach Fill7-
Shoreline Structures5 2
Beach Ecology5-
Surfing Areas105
Website6-
Coastal Development{{{19}}}{{{20}}}
Sea Level Rise{{{21}}}{{{22}}}

Introduction

To the casual observer, beaches may simply appear as barren stretches of sand - beautiful, but largely devoid of life or ecological processes. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Sandy beaches not only provide habitat for numerous species of plants and animals, they also serve as breeding grounds for many species that are not residential to the beach. Additionally, beaches function as areas of high primary production. Seaweeds and other kinds of algae flourish in shallow, coastal waters, and beaches serve as repositories for these important inputs to the food chain. In this way, beaches support a rich web of life including worms, bivalves, and crustaceans. This community of species attracts predators such as seabirds, which depend on sandy beaches for their foraging activities. In short, sandy beaches are diverse and productive systems that serve as a critical link between marine and terrestrial environments.

Erosion of the beach, whether it is “natural” erosion or erosion exacerbated by interruptions to historical sand supply, can negatively impact beach ecology by removing habitat. Other threats to ecological systems at the beach include beach grooming and other beach maintenance activities. Even our attempts at beach restoration may disrupt the ecological health of the beach. Imported sand may smother natural habitat. The grain size and color of imported sand may influence the reproductive habits of species that utilize sandy beaches for these functions.

In the interest of promoting better monitoring of sandy beach systems, the Surfrider Foundation would like to see the implementation of a standardized methodology for assessing ecological health. We believe that in combination, the identified metrics such as those described below can function to provide a revealing picture of the status of beach systems. We believe that a standardized and systematic procedure for assessing ecological health is essential to meeting the goals of ecosystem-based management. And, we believe that the adoption of such a procedure will function to better inform decision makers, and help bridge the gap that continues to exist between science and policy. The Surfrider Foundation proposes that four different metrics be used to complete ecological health assessments of sandy beaches. These metrics include

  1. quality of habitat,
  2. status of ‘indicator’ species,
  3. maintenance of species richness, and
  4. management practices.


It is envisioned that beach systems would receive a grade (i.e., A through F), which describes the beach’s performance against each of these metrics. In instances where information is unavailable, beaches would be assigned an incomplete for that metric. Based on the beach’s overall performance against the four metrics, an “ecological health” score would be identified.


Policies

No information on policies relating to beach ecology was found, other than certain local restrictions on habitat-damaging activities such as vehicle use on the beach and beach grooming (see below).


Sandy beaches are the most common habitat along California’s 1100 miles of coastline. California’s natural beaches are among the most diverse in the world with over 70 species calling the beach their home. However, recent research along the state’s beaches has found that the widespread practice of beach grooming poses a serious threat to this biodiversity. As a result, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) is teaming up with local beach managers, researchers, and others to encourage more ecologically sustainable beach management practices.


Beach grooming typically involves pulling a rake behind a large tractor to remove trash and “unsightly” wrack. Although some grooming occurs north of Point Conception, over 45% of sandy beaches in Southern California are subject to regular grooming. While grooming may “beautify” the beach, aggressive mechanized grooming removes significant amounts of wrack and sand and disturbs or destroys countless beach organisms as well as beach nesting habitat. For example, Dr. Karen Martin, with Pepperdine University, has documented adverse impacts of grooming on grunion nesting areas, a small, protected fish unique to Southern California that spawn out of water and lay their eggs on the sandy beach. Separate studies by Dr. Jenny Dugan of the Marine Science Institute at the University of California at Santa Barbra demonstrated the importance of beach wrack for maintaining healthy beach ecosystems.


A 2009 study by Jenifer Dugan and David Hubbard from UC Santa Barbara's Marine Science Institute[1] affirms that the long-standing management practice of beach grooming is contributing to the loss of coastal strand habitat. Large stretches of coastal strand and dune habitat have been lost in Southern California and other regions due to a combination of factors including development and human use. The study's results show that beach grooming directly and indirectly affects native coastal strand vegetation resulting in bare sand zone expansion. In southern California, a large portion of the coast is mechanically groomed or raked (>170 km) with heavy equipment. This seemingly beneficial practice removes macrophyte wrack - primarily kelp - and trash pollution.


The researchers surveyed 24 difference beaches (12 groomed and 17 ungroomed) between Santa Barbara and San Diego County. The surveys documented unvegetated, dry sand as well as cover and composition of dune vegetation and wrack. They also conducted field experiments in which they seeded and raked plots at San Buenaventura State Beach to further support any findings. Both the surveys and experiments exhibited detrimental effects from beach grooming. On average, unvegetated zones were four times wider on groomed beaches (108 m) than ungroomed beaches (27 m). The average cover of coastal strand vegetation was higher on ungroomed beaches (1.86 m), while groomed beaches contained no measurable cover. Species richness was also significantly higher on ungroomed beaches (4.3 species/ km) compared to groomed beaches (1.2 species/ km).


For the past several years Dr. Karen Martin at Pepperdine University has hosted a biannual meeting of beach managers to discuss ecologically sound management practices to educate beach managers and state agencies about the importance of protecting, restoring, and enhancing natural beach resources. The working group for Beach Management in Ecologically Sensitive Areas is now a nonprofit educational organization, the Beach Ecology Coalition.


As a result of these meetings, California and local governments are beginning to reexamine the practice of mechanized beach grooming and explore and implement alternatives. To protect grunion spawning grounds, almost all public beaches across the state now only groom above the highest high tide mark during the spring and summer nesting season. The highest high tide mark is adjusted and staked every two weeks to help the operators of the grooming tractors stay higher on the shore than the recently deposited eggs.


State agencies and beach managers continue to consider alternative grooming practices to preserve wrack. The CCC has formed a beach grooming work group to study this issue and is an active participant in the bi-annual beach managers’ meetings. Several beach grooming alternatives are being discussed, promoted, and in several cases implemented (either voluntarily or through permit conditions). These alternatives include: no grooming; hand grooming; seasonal grooming; zonal or rotational grooming; and threshold grooming (wrack removal beyond a certain density or height considered problematic). To educate the public and practitioners about these alternative practices and their benefits, the CCC and the beach manager’s group plan to create a state-wide natural beach ecosystem awareness campaign and to develop a state-wide best beach management practice guide.


The continued existence of California beaches as functional, diverse ecosystems will depend on direct conservation efforts. An important component will be continuing to replace traditional mechanized grooming practices with ecologically sensitive beach management practices.


For more information on beach grooming in California, contact Karen Martin at (310) 506-4808, Jenny Dugan at (805)893-2675, or Jonna D. Engel at (805) 585-1821. For more information on beach grooming in San Diego, contact Dennis Simmons at (858) 581-9975.


The BEACH (Beach Ecology Association for Coastal Habitat) Ecology Coalition is an educational non-profit public benefit 501(c)3 organization. Their mission statement is:

"To enhance ecosystem conservation and beach management to balance natural resource protection and recreational use."

For more information, please contact them.

Inventory

The Pacific Coast Ecosystem Information System (PCEIS) is a georeferenced database of the native and nonindigenous marine/estuarine species and coastal landscape characteristics for the Pacific Coast. PCEIS will be released as a stand-alone Access database. Version 1, which was scheduled to be completed in FY06, is intended to synthesize the distributions of the estuarine benthic invertebrates and fishes in Oregon, Washington, and California. The current beta version contains over 6000 species.


More than 30 years ago, scientists surveyed 60 beaches throughout Southern California to create the area’s most comprehensive catalog of coastal species. In 2009, another group of researchers began revisiting that data to determine how much those beaches have changed. A team from the University of California Santa Barbara is analyzing coastal life and sand samples taken from some of the same sites — from Morro Bay, in San Luis Obispo County, to Ocean Beach — to understand the ever-changing nature of beaches. They’re studying what’s in the sand, changes in beach width and the movement of coastal species. Scientists aim to show that beaches are more than just playgrounds for vacationers and athletes. They’re also a diverse ecosystem. “People don’t appreciate that they’re full of life,” said Jenny Dugan, one of the lead researchers on the project, funded by California Sea Grant. The current study is titled "Beaches as Threatened Ecosystems: An Evaluation of Status and Trends in the Ecology of California’s Sandy Beaches." More info.


Does Beach Grooming Harm Grunion Eggs?

Dr. Karen Martin of Pepperdine University has done a substantial amount of work studying the grunion and the potential effects of coastal development and beach grooming on the grunion's reproductive cycle. The grunion, a slender silvery fish that looks a lot like a large sardine, is one of only a few species of fish to reproduce on land. Not only does it brave air to spawn, but it does so with an uncanny, clockwork adherence to the rhythm of the tides. The phenomenal delicacy, or precision, of the grunion life-cycle has prompted some to question whether beach grooming could harm grunion eggs, and hence impact grunion populations.

The City of San Diego grooms its beaches, usually in the wee hours of the morning, to remove trash left by beachgoers and tangled heaps of kelp washed ashore by the tides. During the grunion's spawning season, the city curtails its grooming practices, avoiding sandy stretches regularly saturated by the tides. It is in these areas that grunion lay their eggs. The concern is that heavy metal rakes, which are pulled by tractors, may uncover eggs, damage them, or compact the sand above them. In all these scenarios, loss of egg viability could reduce grunion numbers. See also grunion.org


About 45 percent of Southern California's sandy beaches, approximately 100 miles' worth, are routinely groomed in a manner that harms the ecosystem, according to marine ecologist Jenifer Dugan of the University of California Santa Barbara. See Ecological Impacts of Beach Grooming on Exposed Sandy Beaches.


Sand crabs have been investigated as a possible indicator of ecological health of beaches. Specifically, their response to oil spills or the release of other pollutants may serve as an indicator of beach health/[2]

Educational Sign about beach wrack in Santa Barbara, CA. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Dori

In Santa Barbara, thousands of pounds of seaweed wash up on the beach every year. Over 70% of this is consumed by animals that live on the beach, including crabs, amphipods, and beetles. These animals, in turn, provide an abundant food source for shorebirds such as plovers and sanderlings that utilize the beach for foraging. This information provides an indication that removal of seaweed from the beach may disrupt an important link in the food web.[3]


See also Sandy Beaches on the Brink.


Some information related to beach ecology can be found on the websites of aquariums and other ocean-based education and research institutions:


The Southern Steelhead Resources Project has conducted a quantitative analysis to establish the highest priority watersheds for steelhead restoration along the California coast south of the Golden Gate Bridge, and identifies the key stream reaches and restoration projects in each of these watersheds. The results are published in a report to guide decision making by agencies, local jurisdictions, watershed groups, funders, and others toward a set of short-term restoration activities intended to conserve the greatest amount of existing steelhead habitat in the most efficient manner south of the Golden Gate Bridge.


The State of the State’s Wetlands report (October, 2010) summarizes the importance of wetlands, what we know about them, and efforts undertaken to implement the California Wetlands Conservation Policy (Executive Order W-59-93). The report identifies the progress made by many state agencies, public and private partnerships, and the federal government to protect, restore, and monitor California’s diverse wetland resources. Conclusions are based on information readily available from representative programs located throughout the State; it was not feasible to describe all programs given the scope and budget for this effort. The report also highlights future challenges and provides recommended steps to help achieve the goals of the Wetlands Conservation Policy. The policy calls for the implementation of 33 specific actions, ranging from performing wetland inventories, to developing mitigation banking policies, to creating regional wetland restoration and planning efforts. The policy’s primary purpose is to ensure no overall net loss and achieve a long-term gain in the quantity, quality, and permanence of wetlands acreage and values throughout California.


NOAA's Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps provide a concise summary of coastal resources that are at risk if an oil spill occurs nearby. Examples of at-risk resources include biological resources (such as birds and shellfish beds), sensitive shorelines (such as marshes and tidal flats), and human-use resources (such as public beaches and parks).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coastal Services Center, in partnership with NatureServe and others are developing the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS), a standard ecological classification system that is universally applicable for coastal and marine systems and complementary to existing wetland and upland systems.


Contacts

Karen Martin

Pepperdine University

(310) 506-4808


Jenny Dugan

UC Santa Barbara

(805)893-2675


Jonna D. Engel

California Coastal Commission

(805) 585-1821


Beach Grooming in San Diego

Dennis Simmons

(858) 581-9975

Footnotes

  1. ↑ David M. Hubbard and Jenifer E. Dugan, Shorebird use of an exposed sandy beach in southern California. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 58S, 2003, pp. 41–54. Available at www.sciencedirect.com
  2. ↑ Barron, M.G., Podrabsky, T., Ogle, R.S., Dugan, J.E., et al. 1999. Sensitivity of the sand crab Emerita analoga to a weathered oil. Bull. Environmental Contamination & Toxicology 62: 469-475
  3. ↑ Dugan. J., Personal Communication. August 15, 2003.



State of the Beach Report: California
California Home Beach Description Beach Access Water Quality Beach Erosion Erosion Response Beach Fill Shoreline Structures Beach Ecology Surfing Areas Website
2011 7 SOTB Banner Small.jpg
Retrieved from "https://beachapedia.org/w/index.php?title=State_of_the_Beach/State_Reports/CA/Beach_Ecology&oldid=17150"