Gradually rising sea levels (Marmer, 1951) have caused the beaches 

 to recede landward. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, constructed in the 

 late 1860 's about 3,200 feet from the beach, is today approximately 350 

 feet from the water's edge (Dolan, Godfrey, and Odum, 1973), In 1935 

 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation 

 Corps (CCC) began stabilizing the foredune from the Virginia border to 

 approximately the middle of Ocracoke Island (Stratton and Hollowell, 

 1940). Some foredunes now exceed 25 feet in height. Foredune 

 stabilization has narrowed beach width, and increased the oceanside 

 slope of the foredune and beach. Eventually the stabilized dunes will 

 be destroyed by natural oceanic processes (Dolan, 1972; Dolan, Godfrey, 

 and Odum, 1973) . 



The ocean beach, foredune, arborescent zone, and sound side marsh 

 are the most characteristic features of the Outer Banks profile, although 

 the widths and elevations have changed significantly in the past 300 

 years. The most variable area is between the foredune and the 

 arborescent zone. This area possesses either large migrating dunes, 

 intertidal salt marshes, and sandflats, or a narrow heterogeneous 

 transitional zone. 



During World War II, Duck field was used as a gunnery range 

 (personal communication, D. Woodard, Marine biologist, CERC, 1974). The 

 area was subsequently decontaminated, which leveled considerable parts 

 of it. Effects of bombing are still apparent; the area remains littered 

 with bomb fragments and some cratering is still evident. 



A series of planting experiments were recently conducted on the 

 study area. Extensive sandflats were planted with AmmoTphila bveviligulata 

 (American beachgrass) or Vaniovm amcupum (bitter panicum), and other areas 

 were treated with fertilizer applications. Some areas were disturbed by 

 construction and the use of heavy equipment, both during and after the 

 experiments . 



5. Floristic Composition . 



Burk's (1968) study of the Outer Banks flora reported 462 native 

 species comprising 277 genera, 106 families, and 43 orders. He reported 

 the largest families to be Poaceae, Asteracea, and Cyperaceae. The 

 native plants included 14.7 percent Poaceae, 13.4 percent Asteraceae 

 and 8,0 percent Cyperaceae. Included in his lists were 95 exotic 

 species comprising 55 genera and 33 families, which made up 17.1 percent 

 of the total flora. 



a. Ocean Beach Community . Little or no vegetation exists between 

 the dunes and the ocean. This is in contrast to the Phy satis visaosa- 

 Cvoton mari-t-imus community reported for Ocracoke Island by Kearney 

 (1900). Engels (1942, 1952) reported no sea beach vegetation on either 

 Ocracoke Island or Shackleford Banks; however, neither of these study 

 areas had stabilized dunes. 



