In addition to searching back an average of 6 years in the abstracting series where 

 available, certain classic works (e.g., Pearse, et al., 1942) of earlier periods that have set 

 standards and provide bases for more recent work have been consulted. The bibliographies 

 included do not reference standard textbooks of marine biology or ecology, because these 

 are easily obtainable, are generally not specific, and are often outdated. 



Much accomplished research takes 2 to 10 years to get into the literature. Thus, even a 

 search of the existing literature may not reflect a true review. 



To find the more outstanding references, personal interviews were conducted with 

 scientists in Washington, D.C., and along the Atlantic coast, and the West coast and Hawaii. 

 These interviews, backed by correspondence as necessary, provided a feel for the current 

 status of research. Additional contracts were made at professional meetings and during 

 academic duties. 



This review showed that many of the projects are on the mechanical-descriptive level; 

 little study was designed for the elucidation of principles. Much of the research is more 

 technical than scientific. Many reports are merely raw data. 



3. Complexity of the Problem and the Need for Broad-based Knowledge. 



Ecology attempts to consider the whole biotic and abiotic environment, and the 

 interrelations existing between its various components. We have much good work, as 

 exemplified in the bibliography to this report, but we have an overconcentration in some 

 fields at the expense of others. And, thus, we do not have a complete, or nearly complete, 

 ecological picture of many, if any, ecosystems. 



In the present problem— beaches and offshore sandy areas— the ecosystem problems are 

 relatively simple compared with those of an estuary or the Continental Slope. It is 

 surprising, then, that this ecosystem grouping has not been more intensively studied. 



A list of research areas that would lead to usable knowledge follows immediately below, 

 but is discussed later. 



(a) Detailed studies of substrate composition, spatial structure, and stability in 

 offshore sand and gravel and on beaches. 



(b) Concomitant or immediately following studies on the relationships between 

 substrate and overlying water column in regard to exchange and cycling of such substances 

 as organic carbon, silicon, phosphates and nitrates, sulfur compounds, oxygen, carbon 

 dioxide, and others. 



(c) Studies of local currents and other physical features. 



(d) Inventory studies of faunal and floral, constituents of substrate and overlaying 

 columns, on as quantitative a basis as is feasible, to provide information on stock 

 components and biomasses. 



(e) Biotic-abiotic interdependency studies leading to knowledge of niches and 

 changes of biotic community composition with changes in the physicochemical 

 environment. 



