File:Morro Strand State Beach (1).jpg
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Summary
DescriptionMorro Strand State Beach (1).jpg |
Morro Strand State Beach — viewed from the Back Dunes with Morro Rock, located on Estero Bay in San Luis Obispo County, California.
History
Terrestrial Plant Communities
While not vegetated by plants, the Strand is an important community that provides habitat and food for many species. The Strand is the area of the beach between the supralittoral zone and the foredunes. It is characterized by salt spray, fog water inundation, high winds, blowing sand, and accumulations of uprooted marine algae, driftwood and other debris. Common wrack-line seaweeds on the Strand include: Macrocystis spp. (giant kelps), Nerocystis spp. (bull kelps), Fucus spp. (rock kelps), Egregia spp. (feather boas), and Uva spp. (sea lettuce). The mounds of washed-up seaweed provide food and habitat for many invertebrate species and food for vertebrates such as birds. Above the high tide line the sand begins to accumulate at the foredunes.
According to Orme (1990), coastal dune creation and mobility are favored by abundant beach sand and onshore winds above the threshold velocity for sand entrainment and the primary stabilizing factor is the effectiveness of sand-binding vegetation. MSSB is part of the Morro Dune Complex which stretches from Montana de Oro State Park (MDO) to the south and north to Cayucos and Villa Creek. MSSB is, however, significantly less diverse than the dune communities found at MDO, presumably from direct human impacts and the spread of Ammophila arenaria. Native species not found at MSSB but present at MDO include: Leymus mollis (native dunegrass), Eriastrum densiflora (woolly gilia), Dithyrea maritima (beach spectacle pod), Malacothrix incana (dune-delion) and Dudleya caespitosa (dudleya). Many of these native species are being re-introduced as part of our restoration efforts.
The fore or pioneer dunes are those dunes located nearest to the shoreline. They are characterized by a high rate of sand movement which exceeds the rate of colonization by vegetation. This region of the sand dunes is subject to extremely harsh environmental factors which greatly reduces plant life and diversity as well as provides uniquely adapted assemblages of plants. Such conditions include: desiccation from wind and salt spray, salt and sand abrasion, high reflectivity and surface temperatures, constant fog, fluctuating tides, high salt content in the soils, low soil fertility and water holding capacity, and constant burial, excavation, and re-burial of root systems. The plants that grow on the foredunes are often called dune stabilizers and are very tolerant of the above mentioned environmental pressures. Foredune plant species are often prostrate or creeping along the soil surface, have small succulent leaves with pubescence, are light in color, and have a small surface to volume ratio. They also typically have a large tap root, a complex shallow or surface root system and generally root at the nodes.
Stabilized or back dunes occur inland of the pioneer dunes at MSSB where there is enough vegetation present to reduce or stop the rate of air movement along the sand surface. Stabilized dunes are considered to be older dune communities and are classified by their increase in plant species diversity and composition. These species are, however, less tolerant of the harsh environmental variables that affect species in the pioneer dunes and are therefore restricted to the more sheltered regions of the dune ecosystem. There are many different plant communities that occur on stabilized dunes. Those present at MSSB include: coastal dune scrub, coastal dune swale, Riparian, and Ammophila arenaria dominated dunes.
The primary native plant community on the stabilized dunes at MSSB is coastal dune scrub. Successionally older than the pioneer dunes, it is largely dominated by shrubby species although forbs are present. Coastal dune scrub has much more stable and fertile soils than the pioneer dunes, with greater organic matter content and water holding capacity and a much lower salt content. Species composition in coastal dune scrub communities differs from other coastal scrub communities; these differences are, in a large part, attributed to edaphic factors and proximity to the shoreline. There are a few plants that share co-dominance throughout the coastal dune scrub although dominance of these species shifts from north to south along the dune system.
Coastal dune wetlands comprise a large percentage of the stabilized dunes at MSSB. They occur in low-laying areas and depressions between the back dunes where the surface of the dunes are at or near the water table. Many of these depressions are created by wind erosion of the dunes and filling in of old stream channels that meandered through the dune system. While many of the species in these areas are phreatophytes, having high moisture requirements and roots that reach the water table, the coastal dune wetlands are at the dry end of wetland communities and are intermediate in moisture content.
are typically dominated by fresh water species such as Juncus acutus (spiny rush), Juncus phaeocephalus (brown-headed rush), Juncus patens (spreading rush), Scirpus americanus (bulrush), Scirpus pungens (common three-square), Carex obnupta (sedge), Carex praegracilis (sedge), Potentilla anserina (coastal silverleaf), Baccharis douglasii (marsh baccharis), and various other species of Scirpus, Carex and Juncus. While most of the wetlands are ephemeral, there are a few that seem to persist year-round.
There are large patches of seral dunes that run in discontinuous bands the length of Morro Strand State Beach. Many of these areas are a result of exotic plant removal projects. Where Carpobrotus spp. and Ammophila arenaria have been removed, successional natives such as Heterotheca grandiflora are coming in as volunteers as well as native dune stabilizers including Ambrosia chamissonis and Camissonia cheiranthifolia, and Lotus scoparius at the burn plot. Many of these areas are successional to foredune communities while the inland slopes are successional to coastal dune scrub. Another area of succession is located in and around the arson fire acreage and will result in various stages of dune community succession where many common native species are already recolonizing. Also, just north of the boardwalk, there is a large, open area with compacted alkaline soils. Dwarfed Salix lasioelepis occurs in patches and club mosses and ground lichens cover the soil while Heterothecea grandifolia is the dominant forb covering most of the area. There was clearly a disturbance here, presumable from a time when vehicles could access the dunes before the Cloisters development.
Large sections of dunes have been colonized by Ammophila arenaria (European beach grass), forming a monoculture where it occurs, displacing virtually all native plant species. An Ammophila removal/native restoration plan is in progress; see the section on exotic species for more information. Other ruderal species include Raphinus sativa, Erharta calcynia, Melilotus alba, Cortedaria jubata, and Lobularia maritima (See Exotic section below). A main source for these non-native species is the housing developments that border MSSB north and south parcels and the empty lots between them. |
Date | |
Source |
Morro Strand State Beach scene taken from the Back Dunes 08Oct2011
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Author | Mike Baird from Morro Bay, USA |
Camera location | 35° 23′ 30″ N, 120° 51′ 51″ W | View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap | 35.391666; -120.864167 |
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This image, originally posted to Flickr, was reviewed on 16 June 2013 by the administrator or reviewer File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), who confirmed that it was available on Flickr under the stated license on that date. |
Items portrayed in this file
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some value
35°23'29.998"N, 120°51'51.001"W
8 October 2011
0.00058823529411764705 second
2.8
3.85 millimetre
image/jpeg
File history
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Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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current | 16:17, 16 June 2013 | 2,038 × 1,358 (1.86 MB) | wikimediacommons>File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske) | Transferred from Flickr by User:Fredlyfish4 using flickr2commons |
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Metadata
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Camera manufacturer | Apple |
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Camera model | iPhone 3GS |
Author | """Mike"" Michael L. Baird" |
Exposure time | 1/1,700 sec (0.00058823529411765) |
F Number | f/2.8 |
ISO speed rating | 64 |
Date and time of data generation | 16:16, 8 October 2011 |
Lens focal length | 3.85 mm |
Latitude | 35° 23′ 31.8″ N |
Longitude | 120° 51′ 48.6″ W |
Altitude | 31.202 meters above sea level |
Online copyright statement | http://flickr.com/people/mikebaird/#credit |
Usage terms |
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Image title |
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Short title |
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Copyright holder |
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Horizontal resolution | 72 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 72 dpi |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.5 (Macintosh) |
File change date and time | 19:33, 8 October 2011 |
Exposure Program | Normal program |
Exif version | 2.3 |
Date and time of digitizing | 16:16, 8 October 2011 |
APEX shutter speed | 10.731319 |
APEX aperture | 2.970854 |
Metering mode | Average |
Flash | Flash did not fire, No flash function |
Sensing method | One-chip color area sensor |
Exposure mode | Auto exposure |
White balance | Auto white balance |
Scene capture type | Standard |
Sharpness | Soft |
GPS time (atomic clock) | 23:16 |
Reference for direction of image | True direction |
Direction of image | 120.87826086957 |
GPS date | 8 October 2011 |
Date metadata was last modified | 12:33, 8 October 2011 |
Copyright status | Copyrighted |
Contact information | [at} mikebaird d o t com mike[at} mikebaird d o t com
2756 Indigo Circle Morro Bay, CA, 93442 USA |
Keywords |
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IIM version | 4 |