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The Beach Sand Dunes
Of Belenus
The sand dunes
discussed in this ecosystem refer to the north shores of
Belenus on planet Vesta. At the beach, the tide pummels
the wet shores, day and night.This first land section is
called the foreshore. Next comes the backshore, which slopes
gentle downward towards the ocean. The backshore can extend
as much as 10 miles into land. The backshore contains berms,
which are those unmistakable lateral ridges on the sand
. The sand dunes are found beyond the backshore. Winds blow
sand inland during dry periods forming natural hills or
mounds, which are stabilized by dune grasses. Dunes are
protection against excessive flooding during storm-driven
high tides. It is the areas between the backshore and the
sand dunes that this ecology page describes. The temperatures
at the sand dunes become very hot during the day, just like
a low hot desert. Ironically, the dunes become very breezy
and cold at night. Rainfall isn't really an important factor
because there is so much moisture in the air at the beach
sand dunes.
The low tide
affects the foreshore in major ways. In the same way, the
high tide affects the backshore. If it would not have been
for the moon's influence on tidal behaviors, land plants
and animals might not have come to shore. This is an important
point to grasp. The water and the wind have acted as vehicles
to move plants and animals onto land. The moon's gravitational
pull regulates the time and place for these ecological developments.
The beach sand dunes are home to a variety of plants and
animals. Most of the creatures are small and burrow in the
sand or hide in cracks, crevices, or among the grasses.
Others visit the shore daily or often, then return to the
water after a while. Most plants are thick and leathery
and are very oozy and salty when broken open to investigate
their interior texture. This is not the case for the grasses
though. The sand dune vegetation is dense and deeply colored.
Vegetation is important at the dunes because the plants
help to check and stabilize the erosion and harsh conditions
of the dunes. What's more, plants and animals that live
at the coastal dunes have become very specialized for that
harsh environment. For example, some crabs and scorpion-like
creatures live in the sand and come out at night when it
is cooler to do their predatory hunting. Many other aquatic
animals started leaving the water to come to land and lay
eggs, then returned to the water. Some of these animals
are called amphibians. Some of these amphibians never returned
to the ocean and instead went deeper into land to evolve
into different species after millions of years. Some plants
also migrated deeper into land and became members of other
ecosystems as well.
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Primary
Producers
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Terrateon
Cup
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These tiny plants were
the first plant species to start rising off the ground in search
of air and light. It grows up to one inch in height. Their
stems were stiff and thick to be durable enough to adapt to
the harsh winds that blow in sand dunes. This thickness in
wall structure was also a survival device that helped to conserve
moisture and nutrients when times were more scarce. More specifically,
this plant became a very rigid plant by the rigidity of its
cells clubbing together, leaning on one another for mutual
support. This support was an important strategy to help maintain
an upright posture, unknown to plants before this time. The
little cup-like tops were structured to capture moisture.
Their grouping created colonies of strong rhizome-like structures
that prevented their shifting and tossing about by the will
of the sand or wind. The roots were thick and tuberous in
search or water, nutrients and steadfastness. Reproduction
was by cloning or by sexual reproduction when conditions were
favorable. Sexual reproduction required that this plant produce
a large berry inside the cup at the top of the stem, when
mature, the berry would burst and send out its spores to be
fertilized.
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Paon Sand Grass
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Paon Sand Grass could be
found growing in the dune sands. It is a silvery-green perennial
grass that helps bind and build the sand with its roots. It
spreads its tuberous roots just under the surface of the sand,
and forms an underground web that helps hold the sand in place.
Paon Sand Grass stabilizes the soil for its own survival.
The grasses grow up to 40 inches tall. Although Paon Sand
Grasses produce seeds, their primary method of reproduction
is vegetative rhizomes. The rhizomes are extremely strong
and can colonize new areas by breaking off and establishing
themselves in new areas. Extended immersion in seawater can
enhance the rhizomes’ colonizing abilities. Paon
Sand Grass faces many environmental challenges for survival.
Its number one challenge is the loose sand it depends on for
stability. Another challenge the Paon Sand Grass encounters
is the lack of water it needs for existence. Its long tuberous
roots help both locate water and also stabilize the grass
by holding the sand in place. The grass’s roots play
an important part in its continual survival.
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Sion-phytes
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Another simple
land plant, Sion-phytes , was also able to tolerate some
very harsh conditions including the salt spray and the high
winds with shifting and blowing sand that can bury or dislodge
them. These conditions resulted in some interesting adaptations.
For example, Sion-phytes developed small fleshy leaves and
formed long taproots to absorb enough water from underneath
the sand dune to cope with this hot environment. The taproot
is the primary root which grows much larger, up to 6 feet
long than the other roots of the plant. Just like other
terrestrial grasses. It has a separate roots system, leaves
and underground stems called rhizomes. It grows to 1 feet
high. It is reproduced by seeds unlike algae
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Primary
Consumers
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Sion-Coconutcrab
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Sion-Coconutcrab
feeds on its favorite foods, coconuts and other plants like
the Sion-Phytes growing in the backshore. This creature developed
very long and powerful claws and legs that could climb the coconut
trees. When it reached the coconuts, it used its powerful claws
as a kind of tool to open and eat the sweet contents. Although
it lived around coconut trees on the sand dunes, it needed to
drink seawater once a week to keep up its salt levels. Sion-Coconutcrabs
are covered with a carapace or outer shell. Sion-Coconutcrab
molted its shell when needed. During the month it took for the
crab to develop a new shell, it hid in the pile of cracked coconuts.
Sion-Coconutcrabs crabs grew very slowly. When it became 4-8
years old, it was now able to reproduce by eggs. Once matured,
this creature weighed about 2 pounds and lived for over 30 years.
After mating, the female would store the eggs under her abdomen
and carry them for two months until finally she dug a hole and
stashed the fertilized eggs underneath the sand. One week later
the eggs would start to hatch. During this hatch period, the
male Sion-Coconutcrab paused his hunt for coconuts to protect
the eggs from predators like land turtles who favored crab eggs
for food.
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Secondary
Consumers
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Sanzard
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Sanzard
is a sand-dweller evolved from Fosh. It can be found in the
dune sands. Dune sands are the portions of a beach that extend
from the high-tide line inland to the sea cliff. They are mounds
of windblown sand which vary greatly in size, from less than
one meter to tens of meters high. The shapes of individual dunes
also vary greatly. The shapes are controlled by the direction
and strength of the wind forming it. The sizes and shapes of
the mounds are determined by the amount of sand available. The
Sanzard grows to approximately 5 inches long and weighs approximately
1 pound. Sanzard has a flattened profile with a shovel-shaped
nose. Its body mimics the color and texture of sand. Sanzard
feeds on small insects, plants and fruits. Reproduction varies
from year to year depending on the amount of rainfall. More
young are produced following wet winters, reflecting greater
abundance of greens and insect food. Sanzard lay s its eggs
on the sand and also buries them in the sand.
Its evolved body
is adapted for life in the sand dunes. The toes on its evolved
legs help give traction when running on the surface of the
sand, especially from predators. Sanzard moves fast and dashes
to a burrow at the bases of bushes or dives into the sand
for protection. The scales around Sanzard’s ears, eyes,
and nostrils are elongated to protect these openings from
sand particles. Sanzard’s body mimics the color and texture
of sand. This helps Sanzard trick predators into thinking
that it is sand.
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Teongenesis |
Teongenesis had three
main body parts. The front part was a horny helmet to protect
the head. The second part was the abdomen. The third body
part was a sharp pointed tail.The tail is called a telson.
It looked like a spike, but it was not dangerous. The tail
was used as a rudder, helping to move the crab though the
sand and mud. The shell was made out of a tough horny material
called chitin. The shell was flexible. It also had five pairs
of walking legs. The back pair of legs were extra long. They
had fan-like structures on their tips to help them burrow
in the sand and mud. There were small pincers on the last
pair of legs that were used for cleaning the gills located
in the abdomen. The Teongenesis had its mouth
located between its legs. The mouth was a slit, and it did
not have any jaws or teeth. What's more, the Teongenesis had
ten eyes. There were two large compound eyes on either side
of the helmet. Teongenesis was able to see images, but the
images were probably blurry and just black and white.Teongenesis
had blood that turned blue when it became oxygenated. They
breathed with gills, not lungs. But the gills of Teongenesis
were unique in construction. On the underside of its abdomen
there was a leather-like flap that covered 5 pairs of gills.
Each of the 10 gills had about 100 sheets of tissue that looked
liked the pages of a book. To breathe, Teongenesis flapped
its book gills. The water was forced to go past its gills.
As the water passed through the gills, oxygen passed into
its blood. These gills always needed to be wet or Teongenesis
would die. When stranded out of water, it would dig into the
wet sand to keep its gills moist. It could stay there for
a few days, provided the gills stayed damp. The wet regions
of foreshore proved to be a perfect environment for Teongenesis,
as the first of the Teons to walk the earth. Teongenesis
eats seaworms and clams. It lives to be about 15 years. It
weights about 32 ouces and becomes 18 inches long.
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The Food
Pyramid of the Sand Dunes
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The Energy
Pyramid of the Sand Dunes
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