Coastal Landscapes and Plant Life Archives - Page 3 of 5

Coastal Landscapes and Plant Life

Thanks in large part to North Carolina Sea Grant’s Coastal Landscapes Initiative, there’s a new trend towards landscaping that enhances the coastal environment. Below, we’ve collected our stories on coastal landscaping and, more generally, on our state’s amazing seacoast plant life.

Dec 1, 2017

SEASONAL DREAMS AND DELIGHTS

In these winter months, juvenile fishes and crabs — also known as nekton — likely are missing their summer nursery habitat: seagrasses. Specific seagrass species die back once summer water temperatures get too hot. This is similar to tree leaves that change color in the autumn and eventually fall off. Seasonal shifts also can be found in seagrass habitats, with consequences for juvenile nekton.

Sep 1, 2016

FROM SEEDS TO SHORELINE: Expanding Minds and Restoring Marshes

Armed with shovels and planting trays, 12 determined fifth-graders make their way down to the water’s edge to plant smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, at the living shoreline demonstration site on Pivers Island. The members of Team Spartina, as they call themselves, gently pull seedlings from the trays and say their goodbyes before planting them in clusters along the shoreline.

Jun 1, 2016

COASTAL COLLABORATIONS: Researchers Reach Into Communities

Four community-based collaborations are growing, thanks to a new partnership between North Carolina Sea Grant and the William R. Kenan Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science at NC State University.

Jun 1, 2016

AMAZING COAST: Flora of the Coastal Plain

Visitors to North Carolina’s coast snap photos of blue herons or white ibises as they stand in grassy marsh pond shallows. Families join nighttime vigils to watch loggerhead sea turtles hatch in the soft dunes and toddle across the sand to the ocean. Others take daytime cruises along inlets to look for the swell of a dolphin fin.

Mar 1, 2016

NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Focus on Hydrilla

Hydrilla awareness also has increased in recent years, as have efforts to control and manage it. Last year, partners from state and local agencies met to discuss the plant in areas around the Albemarle Sound. Some members formed a Technical Advisory Group to develop science-based recommendations to address Hydrilla management in the watershed.

Feb 17, 2016

ALGAE PATROL: Documenting a Changing Community

When Wilson Freshwater began finding new tropical seaweeds off the coast of North Carolina, he had questions. What is their abundance? What might accompany them? What else does this mean for North Carolina’s coastal waters?

Jun 1, 2015

AMAZING COAST: Hear the Call of a Maritime Forest

Summer is finally here. If you need a break from the glaring sun and crowded beaches, why not visit a Maritime Forest? They're located conveniently close to popular summer hot spots.

Apr 9, 2015

NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Evicting An Invader: Reducing the Spread of Hydrilla

“When we think about a plant like Hydrilla in some of our coastal systems — and what those coastal systems mean to the state of North Carolina — there could be some major, major problems and impacts,” says Brett Hartis, an aquatic weed scientist who earned his doctorate at North Carolina State University.

Sep 1, 2013

Sea Grass Sustains Fisheries

If you like local seafood, then you like sea grass. Also called submerged aquatic vegetation or SAV, sea grass provides habitat, at some point, to many of the finfish and shellfish species people like to eat in North Carolina.

Suzanne Thompson stands in a field as horses stand in the background.

Mar 1, 2013

SEA SCIENCE: Traversing Untrodden Ground

The mud sucks at her boots as Teri O'Meara enters the marsh on Carrot Island. But the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate student doesn't turn back. Instead she ventures in deeper to compare bacterial and fungal activity in different areas on the island.