Lily Lehr (UR) Wrack on the Beach

Blog post options: 1) online search of reputable website(s) useful to your research topic. What is your IRP and scientific question? (be sure to review and correctly cite it).

At this point my question is, "How is the Wrack on the Beach Affected by Micro-Plastics?" To gain future and fundamental information I researched how this wrack affects our environment. "Biologists found that about 40% of the invertebrate species living on sandy beaches depend on wrack." () With it being a connection between the ocean and the shore many animals depend on for food and shelter. As the fish and birds eat the wrack on the beach plastic gets put in the food chain. Micro-Plastics get ate by humans, whales, sharks, etc,. With all of these creature eating plastic and getting it into their bloodline how is it affecting our health. (Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic). It is important to question how this will affect the future of human immune systems as well as a Floridian's natural surroundings of oceans and gulfs.

I found multiple sites when researching this topic, when individually looking into beach wrack I found the site for the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners Environmental Resources Management that raises awareness about beach wrack. They made the point of stating that taking the wrack can create an imbalance in the beach/dune ecosystem and that taking it harms all the animals that use it for food, shelter, and overall protection. Another site was called "Explore Beaches" they are a research team in California. Through them I found "Loss of Coastal Strand Habitat in Southern California: The Role of Beach Grooming." Which is where I learned more about native plant abundance depending on these wracks. 



Hale, B. (2017, March 15). Sarah Gibbens. Retrieved February 12, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/contributors/g/sarah-gibbens/

Dugan, J.E. & Hubbard, D.M. Estuaries and Coasts (2010) 33: 67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-009-9239-8

https://discover.pbcgov.org/erm/Publications/BeachFactSheet.pdf

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106University of California, SantaUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 9310Santa Barbara, CA 93106