Sunday, September 27, 2015

Clearwater Beach

Temperature: 84 degrees F
Weather Conditions: slight breeze, almost no clouds, all were inland
Location: Clearwater Beach is located on the Gulf Coast and is nestled between hotels, resultants, tourist shops and homes.
Objective: To physically see sand dune and practice beach profiling

Upon entering the beach our group scared off a native, the gopher tortoise, below is a picture of him scurrying away
 
 

Observational Walk:
From the Berm to the primary dune there's not much other than sand, some shells, occasional seaweed and trash. Once reaching the first Sea Oats/primary dune, the secondary dunes follow, then the back dunes. The primary dunes consists of Sea Oats. The secondary dunes are higher in elevation and consist of more plants such as Sea Oats and rhizomatous plants like dollar weed. On the back due there is a much denser plant life including sea oats(see picture below), ink berry (see picture below), beach sunflower, poor mans patch and even cactus, as well as having the highest elevation.

Sea Oats
Ink Berry
Over all this trip was very informative. I enjoy being able to see what we are learning in the classroom in real life.   
 


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