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To support microplastic management, the abundance, composition, and spatial distribution of microplastics on a national scale must be known. Hence, we studied the baseline level of microplastic pollution at 20 sandy beaches along the South Korean coast. All microplastic particles extracted from the sand samples were identified down to 20 μm in size using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The abundances of large microplastics (L-MPs; 1–5 mm) and small microplastics (S-MPs; 0.02–1 mm) were in the range of 0–2088 n/m 2 and 1400–62800 n/m 2 , respectively. Maximum microplastic abundance was in the size range of 100–150 μm, and particles smaller than 300 μm accounted for 81% of the total abundance. Expanded polystyrene (EPS) accounted for 95% of L-MPs, whereas S-MPs were predominantly composed of polyethylene (49%) and polypropylene (38%). The spatial distribution of L-MPs, excluding EPS, was significantly related to population, precipitation, proximity to a river mouth and abundance of macroplastic debris on beach. However, there were no relationships between S-MPs and other environmental and source-related factors, except for macroplastic debris and L-MPs excluding EPS. These results imply that S-MPs are mainly produced on beaches by weathering, whereas L-MPs other than EPS are mainly introduced from land-based sources and are also partly produced on beaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Vizcaíno, E.; Esteban, M.D.; López-Gutiérrez, J.S., and Negro, V., 2018. Surveys Applied to the Improvements of Beaches. Case Studies: Las Canteras, Hoya Pozuelo and Salinetas (Gran Canaria Island, Spain). In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1441–1445. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. In numerous countries, beaches are essential for the attraction of tourism. The users of the beaches are becoming more demanding in terms of their expectations of the state and quality of beaches and their surrounding environment. The current trend in engineering is to listen carefully to the opinions of users to take them into account in decision-making. The consideration of sociological studies based on surveys is already contemplated in beaches. Generally, the design of the survey is done individually for each beach, which prevents a simple comparison between different beaches. The research referred to in this abstract has sought to resolve this issue. This research has focused on the island of Gran Canaria (Spain), where beach tourism is essential within the island economy. The beaches analyzed are: Las Canteras, Hoya Pozuelo and Salinetas. Firstly, an analysis of the survey techniques has been developed, and how it has been applied to beaches. The research includes a technical study from the point of view of coastal engineering. A specific survey has been developed, which has subsequently allowed a field work to be carried out, with results of around 450 surveys. The statistical study of the results of the surveys has allowed analyzing the answers of each one of the questions in each beach, to later compare the three beaches. As a result of the analysis of the surveys, but also of the engineering study of the beaches included in this research, a strategy of improvement of each one of the beaches has been proposed with the aim of achieving greater user satisfaction. It is therefore a case to ben be taken as an example for the future when looking for synergies between engineering studies and sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Yoon, J.C. and Song, D.S., 2018. Preliminary Study for Detecting of Ocean Wave Parameters using CCD Images. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1371–1375. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Recently, researchers have been developed the technology for monitoring in the coastal zone using a remote sensing to manage and analyze the beach processes. Many of these approaches translate the data model of beach process as a queue of avoidance of emergency situation in a beach, such as coastal erosion risk management. However, sensor-based approaches have a crucial limitation, which needs a high cost and has a worry about malfunction. To overcome these problems, a video-based beach monitoring system, which can analyze the wave periods and height, was introduced in this study. A CCD camera is one of best choice to monitor a movement of arbitrary behaviour, because it has a several benefits, especially it does not need high cost equipment, then other sensor-based approach relatively, and has a strong resistance to the external environment except for light. The ocean wave change in CCD image clips, when it reaches the shallow water contains an extreme discontinuity, especially a change in the shape of marine space. So our system extracted the contour of video patches in an each frame and then compared their shape using the seven Hu-moments. The Hu-moments constitute a measure of the similarity of the matrix form between video frames. The radial symmetric kernel was applied to the similarity matrix, which is able to express the wave period and height, respectively. The wave period, which was detected by the Hu-moments algorithm at the Gyoam Beach in Republic of Korea were compared with the wave information collected by an under-water pressure type wave meter. The results of this study confirm that the CCD camera with Hu-moments algorithm is applicable to detect wave period with a slight bias and, consequently, to clarify the complex characteristics of wave distribution and its temporal change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Lee, S.; Kim, H.; Park D., and Lim, H.S., 2018. Modelling shoreline evolution at Anmok Beach by using CST3D-WA, In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1241–1245. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Anmok Beach suffered heavy morphological and shoreline position changes since a submerged breakwater was constructed in October 2014. Straight shoreline changed into a S-shape shoreline after about 3 months, and mostly returned back towards the initial straight line after typhoon Goni in August 2015. Previous wave-average type flow and sediment transport equations cannot reproduce shoreline evolution due to their “wave-average” properties. A wave-average flow and sediment transport model, CST3D-WA, adopt the “beachface slope adjustment method” to enable shoreline evolution in area morphological modelling. The modelling system simulated the morphological change for two periods, and reproduced the changes in morphology and shoreline shape of the two periods reasonably well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Park, W.K.; Moon, Y.H.; Chang, S.Y.; Jeong, W.M.; Chae, J.W.; Ryu, K.H.; Chang, Y.S., and Jin, J.Y., 2018. Nonlinear Transformation of Storm Waves and Impacts on Nearshore Mound in Haeundae Beach, Korea. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1131–1135. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Haeundae beach is the most popular beach in South Korea which has been suffered from serious erosion problem. To protect the beach erosion, various countermeasures such as beach nourishments, submerged breakwaters and nearshore mound have been conducted. However during typhoon Chaba (1618), extreme storms caused significant beach erosions. Extensive field measurements have been made to monitor the storm impacts on the beach changes. This study focuses on (i) the nonlinear transformation of the very high waves over the submerged shoals in coastal waters and nearshore mound placed parallel to the shoreline, and (ii) the consequent morphological changes. For numerical modeling, SWAN was used for offshore wave propagation and XBeach of non-hydrostatic mode for hydrodynamics and sediment transport simulations. It is found that the storm waves were significantly transformed by submerged shoals through wave breaking due to the shallow water depth and generation of super harmonics with significant amount of wave energy transferred from the primary waves, and similar process occurred around the nearshore mound. Specifically, the impacts of the nearshore mound on beach evolution were pronounced for the beach erosion control with respect to wave energy dissipation, onshore sediment transport, and sediment trap in the lee of the mound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Pedreros, R.; Idier, D.; Muller, H.; Lecacheux, S.; Paris, F.; Yates-Michelin, M.; Dumas, F.; Pineau-Guillou, L., and Sénéchal, N., 2018. Relative contribution of wave setup to the storm surge: observations and modeling based analysis in open and protected environments (Truc Vert beach and Tubuai island). In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1046–1050. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Recent events like the Xynthia (2010, France) storm illustrate the potentially devastating effect that storm surges can have on the coasts. Nearshore storm surges at the result mainly from two processes: atmospheric surges and wave setup. This paper investigate the relative wave setup contribution in the storm surge signal for energetic events and focusing on two cases: an open beach (Truc Vert beach, France) and a high island protected by a reef lagoon (Tubuai, French Polynesia). The two selected events are the Johanna storm (March'08), for the Truc Vert site, and the Oli cyclone (February'10), for Tubuai. The data analysis shows that the maximum total storm surge reaches 1.2 m on the Truc Vert site and 1.1 m in the Tubuai lagoon. On the Truc Vert beach, the ECORS'08 in-situ measurements allow estimating a wave setup contribution of 80% of the total storm surge, at the time of maximum storm surge. The relative contribution of the wave setup is investigated a bit further, using the modeling approach. The modeling relies on the joint use of a shallow-water (MARS 2DH) and wave (SWAN) models. It shows an heterogeneous distribution of the wave setup in the Tubuai lagoon and a longshore variability close to the waterline for Truc Vert (~ 30%). In both cases, the wave setup contribution to the whole storm surge is predominant, with relative values ranging from 71 to 120% of the total maximal storm surge. Values larger than 100% occur on the Tubuai site when the atmospheric storm surge is negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suh, S.-W.; Kim M.-J., and Kim, H.-J., 2017. Prediction of sand beach variations by coupling of hydrodynamic and morphological models during extreme storms. In: Lee, J.L.; Griffiths, T.; Lotan, A.; Suh, K.-S., and Lee, J. (eds.), The 2nd International Water Safety Symposium. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 79, pp. 284-288. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Beaches are constantly affected by hydrodynamic forcing. Among various factors, a wave impact is the major reason for beach formation and erosion. In order to provide efficient coupling for the morphological variations in beaches, we consider an unstructured ADCIRC+SWAN model and an orthogonal curvilinear XBeach model. When coupling these heterogeneous models, external Perl scripts are implemented to automatically convey simulated extreme wave and tide conditions for the XBeach input. The application of the model to the hindcasting of typhoons Maemi and Neoguri at Haeundae Beach in Korea shows satisfactory beach variations. Moreover, through sensitivity tests, we find that a wave height of 2 m behaves as a threshold value in the beach environment. Since the coupled model can be easily extended for real-time simulation, it can be employed in an early-warning system to provide beach safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sudden beaching of huge seaweed masses smother the coastline and form rotting piles on the shore. The number of reports of these events in previously unaffected areas has increased worldwide in recent years. These 'seaweed tides' can harm tourism-based economies, smother aquaculture operations or disrupt traditional artisanal fisheries. Coastal eutrophication is the obvious, ultimate explanation for the increase in seaweed biomass, but the proximate processes that are responsible for individual beaching events are complex and require dedicated study to develop effective mitigation strategies. Harvesting the macroalgae, a valuable raw material, before they beach could well be developed into an effective solution., Green, brown and red seaweeds lying on the beach are part and parcel of life in many coastal regions. The amount of beached seaweed biomass started to increase along the [...]

Most coastal communities in the United States test the water at beaches for the presence of bacteria. But they don't routinely test the sand. Does sand also harbor bacteria? Until [...]

Greenwich Dunes, Prince Edward Island National Park, is a sandy mainland and barrier spit beach-dune complex stretching for about 10 km along the northeast shore of Prince Edward Island, Canada. In October 1923, surge associated with an intense storm produced catastrophic overwash along the whole length of the study area. Subsequent evolution of the system was quantified from historic aerial photographs taken in 1936, 1953, 1971, 1997, and 2005. Orthophoto mosaics were generated for each photo set using PCI Geomatica OrthoEngine, a digital photogrammetric software. Linear changes in shoreline position and areal changes in geomorphic units were evaluated for each photo set. In addition, digital elevation models (DEMs) were extracted from the 1953, 1971, and 1997 aerial photos, enabling analysis of topographic and volumetric changes. The 1936 photos show complete destruction of all foredunes, with overwash and transgressive dunes extending 300 to 600 m inland. A descriptive model of the stages of evolution of the system is proposed based on the processes controlling overwash healing and dune stabilization. Detailed topographic and volumetric changes associated with the development of an extensive transgressive dunefield and subsequent stabilization as a result of reduced sand supply due to the growth of a new vegetated foredune complex and vegetation colonization are doccumented for each stage. It was nearly 40 years before a continuous foredune system was re-established and a further 30 years before the inland transgressive dunes became completely stabilized. Les dunes Greenwich du Parc national de l'Ile-du-Prince-Edouard forment un complexe de region continentale et de barre-dunes qui s'etend sur une dizaine de kilometres le long de la cote nord-est de l'Ile-du-Prince-Edouard, Canada. En octobre 1923, une vague de grosse tempete a causee un debordement catastrophique tout le long du secteur a l'eetude. L'evolution subsequente du systeme a ete quantifieiea partir de photographies aeeriennes historiques prises en 1936, 1953, 1971, 1997 et 2005. Des mosalques orthophotographiques ont ete; geinerees pour chaque ensemble de photos au moyen du logiciel numeerique de photogrammeetrie OrthoEngine de PCI Geomatica. Les changements de position de la ligne de rivage et les changements de superficie des unitesgeeomorphologiques ont ete evalueis pour chaque ensemble de photos. De plus, des modeles numeriques et d'etevation ont ete extraits des photographies aeeriennes prises en 1953, 1971 et 1997, permettant d'analyser les changements topographiques et volumeetriques. Les photos de 1936 montrent la destruction complete de toutes les avant-dunes; elles montrent aussi du materiau de deebordement et des dunes transgressives s'etendant de 300 a 600 m a l'inteerieur des terres. Un modele descriptif des etapes de revolution du systeme est propose base sur les processus controlant le retablissement a la suite du deebordement et la stabilisation des dunes. Les changements topographiques et volumeetriques detaillees associesau developpement d'un grand champ de dunes transgressives et la stabilisation subsequente resultant d'un apport moindre en sable en raison du deeveloppement d'un nouveau complexe d'avant-dunes vegeetalise et la colonisation par la veegetation sont documentes pour chaque eetape. Une peeriode de pres de 40 ans a ete necessaire pour que se retablisse un systeme continu d'avant-dures et 30 autres annees avant que les dunes transgressives a l'inteerieur des terres ne soient completement stabiliseees. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction In the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, as in many other coastal regions, there is concern that rising sea level and climate change will lead to destabilization of sandy [...]

Erosion is a major threat for coasts worldwide, beaches in particular, which constitute one of the most valuable coastal landforms. Vulnerability assessments related to beach erosion may contribute to planning measures to counteract erosion by identifying, quantifying and ranking vulnerability. Herein, we present a new index, the Beach Vulnerability Index (BVI), which combines simplicity in calculations, easily obtainable data and low processing capacity. This approach provides results not only for different beaches, but also for different sectors of the same beach and enables the identification of the relative significance of the processes involved. It functions through the numerical approximation of indicators that correspond to the mechanisms related to the processes that control beach evolution, such as sediment availability, wave climate, beach morhodynamics and sea level change. The BVI is also intended to be used as a managerial tool for beach sustainability, including resilience to climate change impact on beach erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the public-space discourse Los Angeles is usually portrayed as more 'anti-city' than city. Its landscape is overrun by houses, 'private-public' squares and plazas, theme parks, shopping malls, and so on and lacks inclusive public places. Yet this discourse has essentially disdained to contemplate a major public space that contradicts its general thesis: the Los Angeles coast. The coast is meaningful public place in two specific senses. First, it symbolizes Los Angeles as a whole and therefore provides a basis for regional public identity. Second, Angelinos themselves take the coast seriously as a public place, and they have striven to make it inclusive in practice. Keywords: beaches, California, coastal access, Los Angeles, public place., An article in the 25 August 2003 Los Angeles Times entitled 'Malibu Civics Lesson' describes a confrontation on one of Southern California's most famous beaches. The specific incident took place [...]

The surface characteristics and dimensions of many beaches reflect past inputs of sediment due to human activity in tributary drainage basins. Subsequent control of erosion in drainage basins, changes in flow regimes of streams, and construction of shorefront structures have reduced sediment input and eliminated beach area in many coastal segments, leading to calls for artificial beach nourishment. This study evaluates the compatibility of sediments delivered as a result of human activity in terms of the appearance and utility of beaches by comparing sites on Elba Island, Italy. Beach morphology, mineralogy, grain size, and roundness of sediments were determined for five sites where sediments were introduced by artificial nourishment, by erosion of spoils from iron mines, and by stream flow through agricultural or mining lands. Size, sorting, angularity, and color of sediments determine their acceptability by beach users. These characteristics were determined by evaluating the mineralogy and method of delivery of sediment (rivers, bluff erosion, and artificial replenishment) and subsequent modification by wave and human action. Wave energy and time are critical to the reworking of sediments to achieve more natural characteristics, but these constraints can be overcome by more careful selection of the mineral characteristics of fill sediments, prewashing fill sediments to remove silts and clays to reduce turbidity, grading nourished beaches to cycle sediments into the wave and swash zones to cause better rounding of sediments, or raking the beach to create the sandy backbeach that is favored by beach users. Key Words: beach nourishment, human--land relationships, land use change, reine spoils, recreation, sediment sources, wave action.

Abstract--Distribution, abundance, and several population features were studied in Ensenada de La Vela (Venezuela) between 1993 and 1998 as a first step in the assessment of local fisheries of swimming [...]

Three well-known Australian beaches, Surfers Paradise Beach (Gold Coast), Narrowneck Beach (Gold Coast) and Bondi Beach (Sydney), were selected for analysis of beach user preferences for certain weather and ocean conditions. Regression methods were used to determine how the numbers of visitors to these beaches are affected by these conditions. Actual visitor numbers were counted at three times during the day over several months at each beach with the aid of web cameras. The corresponding weather and ocean conditions were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and local government agencies. Weekly and seasonal factors were also considered. The conditions preferred by beach users, as found in this study, are: no precipitation, higher temperatures, light-to-moderate wind speed (less than 30 km/h) and low wave height (up to 1.25 m). This study, the first to provide an analysis of beach user preferences for both weather and ocean conditions, shows that ocean conditions play a significant role in explaining the demand for beach recreation in Australia. It is therefore necessary for tourism management authorities or local governments to provide accurate and timely weather and ocean information to local, domestic and international beach users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnitude of the effects of nearshore dredge pits on adjacent beaches depends on a range of parameters, including seabed geomorphology, local wave climate, sediment supply, and pit design characteristics (e.g. distance offshore, depth of cut, cross-shore and alongshore extents, shape of pit). Delft3D, a morphological model developed by Deltares, was used to investigate relationships between dredge pit design parameters and impacts on adjacent beaches. The purpose of this study was to identify design parameters that affected the magnitude of dredge pit effects on adjacent beaches. An ancillary purpose was to develop a scientific basis for dredge pit design recommendations for beach restoration and other sediment needs of coastal infrastructure projects. Dredge pit design sensitivity tests were conducted using Delft3D. A schematic model was constructed using shore-parallel contours and tests for a single-wave condition and for an annual wave climate. The depth of the cut and the cross-shore length of the dredge pits greatly influenced the magnitude of the dredge pit impacts on the adjacent beaches. The distance of the borrow pits from the shore influenced the magnitude and location of the impacts (because of the oblique wave incidence). An inverse relationship was verified between the water depth where the borrow was located and the magnitude of its impacts on adjacent beaches. Dredge pit impacts on adjacent beaches can be reduced significantly by designing narrow, elongated parabathic pits with have a shallow cut depth. Depth of cut increments had pronounced effects in shallow water (2-6 m), but in water depths greater than 8 m, gradual depths of cut increments of 2 m did not significantly affect its impact on adjacent beaches. Results of this study indicate that the effects of dredge pits on adjacent beaches can be reduced by half by adopting optimal pit designs while maintaining the same dredging volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sandy beach ecological theory states that physical features of the beach control macrobenthic community structure on all but the most dissipative beaches. However, few studies have simultaneously evaluated the relative importance of physical, chemical and biological factors as potential explanatory variables for meso-scale spatio-temporal patterns of intertidal community structure in these systems. Here, we investigate macroinfaunal community structure of a micro-tidal sandy beach that is located on an oligotrophic subtropical coast and is influenced by seasonal estuarine input. We repeatedly sampled biological and environmental variables at a series of beach transects arranged at increasing distances from the estuary mouth. Sampling took place over a period of five months, corresponding with the transition between the dry and wet season. This allowed assessment of biological-physical relationships across chemical and nutritional gradients associated with a range of estuarine inputs. Physical, chemical, and biological response variables, as well as measures of community structure, showed significant spatio-temporal patterns. In general, bivariate relationships between biological and environmental variables were rare and weak. However, multivariate correlation approaches identified a variety of environmental variables (i.e., sampling session, the C:N ratio of particulate organic matter, dissolved inorganic nutrient concentrations, various size fractions of photopigment concentrations, salinity and, to a lesser extent, beach width and sediment kurtosis) that either alone or combined provided significant explanatory power for spatio-temporal patterns of macroinfaunal community structure. Overall, these results showed that the macrobenthic community on Mtunzini Beach was not structured primarily by physical factors, but instead by a complex and dynamic blend of nutritional, chemical and physical drivers. This emphasises the need to recognise ocean-exposed sandy beaches as functional ecosystems in their own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua is the property of Instituto Mexicano de Tecnologia del Agua (IMTA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Artificial beach nourishment can significantly modify original beach colour, altering an important component of the coastal landscape; this can produce deleterious environmental effects and potentially induce controversies among stakeholders, leading even to litigation. This paper reviews some of these impacts, discusses chromatic compatibility of borrow sediments, and proposes techniques to assess it. Further, it evaluates the preference of beach users towards different sand colours through 320 interviews held at natural and nourished beaches in Italy using Munsell and CIE L*a*b* colour spaces. Results show that colour acceptance is significantly related to sand lightness, though in some cases different preferences were due to memories and sensations related to the colour of original or idealised beaches. The study confirmed the preference of beach users towards light-colour sand and showed that nourishments that use sediment of a new colour can influence the degree of appreciation of light and dark sands. Results from this study were further applied to the specifications of a bid for a beach fill project, setting the colorimetric coordinates in CIE L*a*b* space for sediments considered suitable for the nourishment of a particular beach in Tuscany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Integrated Coastal Zone Management / Revista de Gestão Costeira Integrada is the property of Associacao Portuguesa dos Recursos Hidricos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has committed to issuing in 2012 new or revised criteria designed to protect the health of those who use surface waters for recreation. For this purpose, the U.S. EPA has been conducting epidemiologic studies to establish relationships between microbial measures of water quality and adverse health outcomes among swimmers. New methods for testing water quality that would provide same-day results will likely be elements of the new criteria. Although the epidemiologic studies upon which the criteria will be based were conducted at Great Lakes and marine beaches, the new water quality criteria may be extended to inland waters (IWs). Similarities and important differences between coastal waters (CWs) and IWs that should be considered when developing criteria for IWs were the focus of an expert workshop. Here, we summarize the state of knowledge and research needed to base IWs microbial criteria on sound science. Two key differences between CWs and IWs are the sources of indicator bacteria, which may modify the relationship between indicator microbes and health risk, and the relationship between indicators and pathogens, which also may vary within IWs. Monitoring using rapid molecular methods will require the standardization and simplification of analytical methods, as well as greater clarity about their interpretation. Research needs for the short term and longer term are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recreational beach use with off-road vehicles is popular, but potentially harmful from an environmental perspective. Beaches are important habitats to invertebrates such as ghost crabs of the genus Ocyopde, which excavate extensive and elaborate burrows. Ghost crabs are sensitive to human pressures and changes in burrow architecture may thus be a consequence of disturbance by vehicles—the predictive hypothesis of this article. This was tested during the austral spring and summer by comparing 305 burrow casts between beaches open and closed to vehicles in Eastern Australia. Traffic influenced burrow architecture: there were smaller crabs on vehicle-impacted beaches, and after the peak traffic period (Christmas and New Year holidays), these crabs had tunnelled deeper into the sediment on shores rutted by cars. Crabs constructed all types of previously described burrows, but, significantly, smaller crabs from vehicle-impacted beaches simplified their shapes following heavy traffic disturbance from four (I, J, Y, M) to only two types (I, Y). These data support a model of active behavioural responses to disturbance from vehicles, extending the known effects of beach traffic to impacts on behavioural traits of the beach fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which aims to determine the effects of freshwater discharge from Rio de la Plata and beach morphodynamics on the population and distribution of the mole crabs (Emirita brasiliensis) in sandy beaches of Uruguay. The study gathered different data from 16 beaches between July 1999 and April 2001, as well as samples from estuaries. Mole crab samples were collected by using a sheet metal cylinder, measured, weighed and were preserved in 5% buffered formalin. Results show that mole crabs are more abundant in dissipative beaches (areas where salinity is high and phytoplanktons are abundant) compared to the reflective beaches. It suggests that further studies be made to gain more understanding on the source-sink dynamics of sandy beaches.

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Oceanography is the property of Instituto Oceanografico da Universidade de Sao Paulo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Density and spatial distribution of the burrows of the ghost crab, Ocypode ceratophthalmus (Pallas, 1772) on the wave-washed beaches at Pulau Hantu and East Coast Park, Singapore were studied. Burrow diameter, distance of each burrow from the high water mark, mean sediment compactness, and mean particle sizes of the sediment were compared among nine sites (two island and seven mainland) with different levels of human impact. Lower burrow densities, smaller mean particle size, and more compact sediment were recorded at the more disturbed beaches. Mean burrow densities at the sites without boating activity were higher, regardless of high or low disturbance. Burrow distribution was random at all beaches although more burrows were observed near the low water level on shores with more human activity. Pulau Hantu and East Coast Park had only 0.1% and 7.3% of juvenile burrows, respectively, indicating a low recruitment rate of juvenile ghost crabs. These results provide quantitative evidence that human activities affect the abundance of O. ceratophthalmus, thereby establishing its potential as a bioindicator to assess the extent of human impact on the sandy beaches of Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how the coast of California will experience coastal erosion due to sea rise caused by global warming. The authors warn that coastal armoring, in which seawalls and barriers are erected to protect coastal property, could have negative effects on ecosystems and restrict public access to beaches. They suggest that the California Coastal Commission could enact rolling easements to control coastal armor and ensure public access to tidelands. Land development could be restricted to areas not threatened by sea level rise. Sea level rise can be dependent on climate, thermal expansion of water, and continental glaciers.

Author(s): Daniel Cressey Kamilo beach, on the tip of Hawaii's Big Island, is a remote tropical shore. It has white sand, powerful waves and cannot be reached by road. It [...]