Habitats: Beaches - Humans & the Environment

Surfers, swimmers and sunbathers use beaches for recreation (play). People fish off beaches for food. Since many people take their vacations at the beach, lots of beaches in tropical locations are important to their country's economy. Entire cities, regions and countries depend on the money tourists spend while visiting the beach.

Erosion (the wearing away of rock and soil) is one of the primary creative forces of many beaches. Erosion provides sand for new beaches and the maintenance of old ones; erosion forms the stacks and arches found on irregular rocky coastlines; and erosion provides the material which forms deltas and barrier islands.

Beaches are naturally very dynamic (always-changing) places, but people try to control them and build permanent structures, such as houses, restaurants, shops and hotels, on or near the shore. The natural erosion and deposition of beaches becomes a problem. Beaches can disappear over time, or even over night during severe storms.

Of all the kinds of pollution that beaches endure, oil spills can be the most deadly. A layer of thick oil smothers most small creatures fairly quickly, and larger animals that get away are fouled and poisoned soon after. Beaches do recover in time, but years may pass before new communities of plants and animals move back to an affected area.

Other kinds of pollution take their toll as well. Garbage that washes up can strangle or entrap wildlife - to a sea turtle, for example, see jellyfish and plastic bags in nearly the same way, and many have died as a result of eating the bags. Industrial waste is often toxic to many kinds of sealife, particularly to filter feeders. Raw sewage has caused dangerous algal blooms, and may play a part in the formation of deadly red tides along with excessive fertilizer runoff.