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higher numbers of species present. High species number is attributed to the 
close proximity of the nourishment beach to Beaufort Inlet. After nourishment 
began the unnourished beach maintained the same diversity and density patterns 
that both beaches had displayed before nourishment although there was seasonal 
variation. The species diversity on the nourished beach became undefined at 
the onset of nourishment because the density of all species dropped to zero. 
This situation remained at the nourished beach until nourishment activities 
ceased. During the nourishment activities, the Fort Macon beach was subdivided 
into two segments (the area already nourished and the area not yet nourished). 
While all organisms in the nourished area disappeared, no increased population 
densities were noted from the adjacent unnourished area. Near the end of 
nourishment activities this unnourished area showed both a drastic reduction 
in diversity and a change in species composition, thus indicating a certain 
edge effect of nourishment. A special transect designed to monitor rate of 
recovery after nourishment indicated that a speedy recovery largely depended 
on recruitment from pelagic larval stocks. It also seemed to indicate that 
high turbidities associated with nourishment can prevent this recruitment. 
Lastly it showed that those species unable to recolonize through pelagic larval 
recruitment returned to the area much more slowly. 
A comparison of the before-and-after nourishment data at Fort Macon showed 
little evident change in the densities of the most dominant secondary producer 
the mole crab, Emerita talpotda; however, when comparing before-and-after size 
class data with the comparison beach the effects of nourishment are obvious, 
While a complex age and size class array was evident before nourishment at 
Fort Macon and after nourishment at the comparison beach, only young of the 
year age classes were observed for any intertidal species present at Fort 
Macon. This lack of older and larger individuals and consequently biomass was 
reflected in lower densities of important migrating consumers at the study 
site. Although the populations of these consumers were probably not affected, 
they were noticeably absent from the nourished area during and after nourish- 
ment; they probably had moved to adjacent areas. The beach showed signs of 
recovery. Only Emerita talpoida returned in near-normal density; all other 
numerically important species also returned but in significantly lower density. 
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