Clearwater Beach Florida

24/09/15

Weather: 84° F, sightly breezy, very sunny, little to no clouds in the sky

Observations: There are sandiness close to the parking area. They have rhizomes roots that extend to the outer dune so that they can provide nutrition to the inner plants, such as: the grasses, sea oats, and beach sun flowers. There are a few palm trees as well as powdery white sand. And let us not forget the plentiful amount of seagulls.

Why are we here? We are here to gather information to make a beach profile as well as observe the sand dunes and what their height is compared to the nearshore.

Our first task was to measure 30 m out from the first dune, and measure the height from the tape measure to the ground. Then we did the same all the way until we were about waist deep in the water, due to the fact that the tide was out. As we were measuring the height every 1m we were also analyzing the sand texture.

After we took down data for our beach profile, we then walked with our Professor around the dunes to observe different species and habitats. Some things we saw were crab holes, Morning Glory flowers, Ink Berry plants, Poor Man's Patch, a viviparous succulent plant, and Sea Grapes. On our way back we stopped in the wrack line and saw what kinds of items we were able to identify and found Red Mangrove seeds as well as White Mangrove seeds. Finally, we did a beach sweep and picked up trash on the way to our cars. It was ridiculous the amount of cigarette butts were left in the sand. 

Words to live by: *Always leave a place cleaner than you found it!*