Abstract
A widely-held view concerning primary production in the littoral and inner sublittoral zones of the ocean is that high productivity can occur only in areas having a stable substratum to which benthic plants can attach. Consequently, exposed sandy beaches, where the shifting substratum precludes attachment of macroalgal holdfasts, are commonly regarded as zones of low primary production. If little plant material is produced within the sandy beach environment, then the fauna of such beaches must rely heavily on food produced in other environments and subsequently transported to the beach. The food is believed to come chiefly from the ocean beyond the surf zone and, in lesser quantities, from the land (Brown, 1964). In short, the general rule is that the sandy beach biota is “subsidized” to a high degree (McLachlan, 1980). This paper concerns a widespread phenomenon that constitutes an exception to that rule.
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Lewin, J., Schaefer, C.T. (1983). The Role of Phytoplankton in Surf Ecosystems. In: McLachlan, A., Erasmus, T. (eds) Sandy Beaches as Ecosystems. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2938-3_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2938-3_26
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