Chapter 4 Habitats
beach. The environment is harsh for plants, with almost constant salt spray and with periodic flooding and reworking of sand during storms. A handful of mostly annual, salt-tolerant herbs occur as sparse patches and scattered individuals on the sand. Small mounds of sand may develop around the few perennial plants, such as sea oats and marsh elder, forming the beginnings of dunes. 4.4.17.2 Location of Habitat Maritime grasslands are located in the Coastal Plain ecoregion on barrier islands and Atlantic Ocean shore areas. 4.4.17.3 Problems Affecting Habitats Overwash. These communities are well adapted to overwash and this may or may not be harmful to them. It may reverse the artificial exclusion of overwash that has altered some examples, such as those on parts of Bodie and Hatteras islands and the Currituck Banks. Overwash is important for transporting sand to the back of barrier islands, allowing them to migrate landward with rising sea level. Increased erosion of foredunes and possible disappearance of whole barrier islands will substantially reduce acreage. Sea Level Rise. This group will likely shrink drastically in the near future. The most extensive examples occur on narrow barrier islands that are most likely to disappear or be substantially altered by erosion. Examples should survive where barrier islands are able to migrate. Examples should survive on larger, more stable, higher islands, and may migrate to higher elevations or expand there at the expense of maritime upland forest and maritime wetland forest. Much of the narrower part of the Outer Banks could disappear entirely (Riggs 2010) . With the loss of area will come increased fragmentation, which is already a problem in smaller examples that are isolated by developed areas. Barrier islands can be expected to migrate landward, if allowed to, and could survive if sea level does not rise too rapidly. The wider, more stable, and generally higher parts of barrier islands are likely to remain. Grassland communities will also shift and change as the result of increased storm activity and its associated erosion, increased salt spray, overwash, and saltwater intrusion. Increased coastal erosion may breach the foredunes, allowing overwash, which can offset the effects of artificial barriers (e.g., sand fencing and plantings) installed to reinforce the stability of the primary dune. Increased natural disturbance and milder temperatures can be expected to change composition. Species native to comparable communities farther south may be able to migrate in. Because the harsh physical environment already limits species present, and because the expected changes on surviving islands are mostly increases in processes already active, the degree of compositional change is expected to be limited in most of these communities. Structural changes may be more significant. However, the wet grasslands in particular may be more drastically affected.
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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