Dune Vegetation on the barrier island of Shackleford Banks
BWB…Repeat (or Wild Horses and GREAT Shelling!) is H2O Captain Eco-Tour Private Boat Excursion’s most popular excursion. It has almost everything a visitor to our area would want to see and experience. First of all BWB stands for Boat, Walk, Beach, and then, Repeat! Captain Mark acts as both your on-water and on-land tour guide as we undergo a wonderful boat ride, landing on a beach, walking across Shackleford Banks while looking for the wild horses, until we get to the oceanside where we are delighted to discover GREAT shelling!Captain Mark may take you on a circuitous trail back to Back Sound if he doesn’t find the wild horses for you on the first trail. All this plus this is our least expensive excursion to make it possible for all to enjoy.
Salt spray and blowing sand are the two main factors contributing to the zonation of plant species across Shackleford Banks, the barrier island that we walk across. When waves break on the oceanside shoreline, salt spray is tossed into the air in high concentrations. Regular onshore winds, and we generally have prevailing southwest winds during the warmer months here in the Southern Outer Banks / Crystal Coast, push the spray inland, across the banks, coating everything in its path. The highest salt concentrations occur on the oceanside beach, gradually decreasing with distance as it approaches the shore where the H2O Captain boat is either beached or anchored.
Most flora, i.e. plants, bushes, and trees, have a low tolerance for salt in the soil or on their leaves. Dune plants, and more specifically grasses (e.g. spartina to include: centipede grass, smooth cordgrass, and saltmeadow cordgrass, plus sea oats, as we witness here on Shackleford, tolerate the highest levels of salt spray and even an occasional overwash by the sea’s saltwater.
What is the sand dune succession model?
Primary succession can happen when bare sand is colonized by plants. Over time, the sand builds up into sand dunes, raising the ground above the height of sea level. Succession in sand dunes is sometimes called a psammosere.
So, to illustrate the barrier island vegetation zones on Shackleford Banks which Captain Mark will guide you through as we all walk together in order are:
1. The Beach on Back Sound
2. Salt Marsh
3. Maritime Forest
4. Shrub Thicket
5. Grassland
6. Frontal Dune Zone
7. Berm
8. Beachface
9. The North Atlantic Ocean
Photo: Two wild horses on Shackleford by Captain Mark
The illustration above by David Williams from The Dune Book, Courtesy of the North Carolina Sea Grant
