﻿Study of the Animal Ecology of the Shore. 225 



XXIII. A Method for the Study of the Animal Ecology 

 of the Shore. By L. A. L. King, M.A., and E. S. 

 EUSSELL, M.A. 



(Read 25th January 1909 ; received same date.) 



I. Introduction. 



Animal Ecology we take to mean the study of the 

 relations between animals and their environment both 

 animate and inanimate. We are concerned here with these 

 relations as exhibited by the animals of the shore, meaning 

 the region between extreme tide-marks. The most important 

 work on this subject with which we are acquainted is found 

 in the series of " Cold Spring Harbor Monographs," published 

 by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. These are 

 Monographs of single species containing a detailed account 

 of their habits and environmental relations. Here we must 

 not omit to mention also the interesting sketch of the 

 general Ecology of the Cold Spring Sand Spit, which is given 

 by C. B. Davenport in the Decennial Publications of the 

 University of Chicago, 1903. 



Apart from these the study of shore animals has been, up 

 to the present, mainly a series of isolated observations of 

 facts, in themselves of much interest, but tending only 

 occasionally to throw light upon the problems of 

 Ecology. Faunistic lists have been compiled, and the habits 

 of some animals have been studied with care, but scarcely 

 any attempt has been made to study in a systematic and 

 comprehensive manner the actual conditions of life on the 

 shore. 



The first essential is to observe the relations which actually 

 exist between the animals present and their environment, in 

 other words, to make a complete survey of the shore. 



This can be done by examining each particular kind of 

 shore in turn. There are for instance sandy shores, muddy 

 shores, pebbly shores, rocky shores. It is well known 

 that each of these has its characteristic fauna. One 

 primary investigation in shore Ecology would be the study 



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