Ecology of Sand Dunes Free Essays

There are six main physical types of dunes which rely on the position of the system in relation to the direction of the shoreline. Three of these being spits, offshore islands and nesses project towards the sea and are generally extending seawards. They are characterstic where the prevailing wind is offshore so in England would be the East Coast. We will write a custom essay sample on Ecology of Sand Dunes or any similar topic only for you Order Now The other three types which are bay dunes, hind shore dunes and machair are found found where the prevailing wind is onshore so a constantly being driven back on to the land behind the shore by the wind and are found on the west coast. Dunes are known as sub-maritime coastal habitats as they are not plagued by occasional flooding and are not very salty. Dunes can very in size greatly with the height increasing over 25 meters on some coasts and can vary greatly in width and length. Dune vegetation Dune vegetation varies according to stability, moisture content and calcium carbonate content of the sand the dune is made up of. In order for vegetation on the dunes to grow plant succession has to occur. Marram grass colonises the dune (fore dunes) and spreads its tuberous roots just under the surface of the sand, and forms an underground web that helps hold the sand in place. Though marram grass stabilizes the soil for its own survival, an inadvertent side effect is that it makes it possible for other kinds of vegetation to begin to take hold. Other plants take advantage of the increased stability of the soil surface and start to colonize areas the marram grass helped make safe Embryo dune formation Sand is blown onshore from exposed beaches at low tide. As the wind slows due to obstacles on the land being met the sand is deposited. Large amount of sand are deposited just beyond the highest water mark. This is due to the friction occurring where drift line vegetation is growing and by the accumulating sand deposits present. Eventually low sand hills build up on the shoreline and slowly move inaland. These embryo dunes become colonized by Agropyron Junceforme which can tolerate saline apray, posses’ a large root system allowing more binding of the sand and rapid growth to avoid burial by the sand. The embryo dune vegetation increases sand deposition and they hills increase in size and advance further inland and develop into first fore and then yellow dunes. Fore Dunes and yellow dunes Above the driftline and embryo dunes there is often a seaward strip of low dunes with an open growth of plants still tolerant of short immersion during especially higgh tides. These fore dunes grade into main dunes further inland where Marram grass is the main colonist encouraging the growth of the dunes upwards. This grass is and efficient dune builder but does not form a layer of litter or bind the sand surface so later erosion occurs. As the colonists have made the sand more stable forther vegetation now grows such as Calystegia soldanella. This grows in the sand between the marram tussocks. Many species of plans which find a coastal niche also appear as open sand colonists. Some of these grow on mainly calcerous dunes, but the effect of varying lime content of the sand becomes more obvious as a closed vegetation develops and stabilization is accompanied by leaching. Fixed or Grey Dunes A vegetation of low growing grasses, lichens and mosses are present at this stage. Where contains less lime the characterstic species which occurs amongst the marram are red and sheeps fescue. Lichens such as Cladonia impexa also may become abundant Dune Heath and Dune Pasture The oldest and most stable parts of the non-calcerous dunes are eventually invaded by dwarf shrubs. This forms a heath which approaches which approaches that of many inland lowland areas with sandy soil. Lichen heaths also develop with species such as cladonia impexa growing in great abundance in dwarf shrubs, it is also possible for bracken to become abundant in this area and large areas of it may develop. During the early stages of closed sward formation marram may remain very abundant, but with further development of the succession it gradually thins out and eventually disappears. The development of the dwarf shrub heath is also marked by the sand surface becoming acidic and the formation of an acidic humus layer. Further development involves a thickening of the grassy swardm extension of these herbs into the moss and lichens, and the dissapearance of species such as marram grass.. Rabbits can be numerous on these undes and their grazing can produce a close cropped species rich area hardly distinguishable from that on many inland grasslands. The lime content and pH of calcerous sand dunes decrease with age, and organic How to cite Ecology of Sand Dunes, Papers

Poems from other cultures and Traditions Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker Essay Example For Students

Poems from other cultures and Traditions: Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker Essay Imtiaz Dharker who now lives in India, Bombay, wrote Blessing. The poet describes the land cracking open because it is so dry because of temperature. The poet makes us imagine the echo of dripping water into a tin mug. Then the poet goes on to describe a scene in a village or in a street where there is a small community where water is scares. A water pipe bursts and suddenly there is water rushing out of the pipe. All of a sudden there is a mass of people collecting water in all types of containers big and small. Water is precious and cannot be allowed to just run away. The children run around in the water playing and very joyful of this silver liquid. Blessing is a metaphor for water. She believes that water is a gift from God and with out this element life is not possible. She describes the water dripping into a tin mug and she believes that a friendly God gave the water to them. In verse three there is an emphasis on the idea of water belong treasured, such as fortune, silver and the fact that everyone ruches to collect it and that it cant be allowed to escape. In the poem the people rushes to collect the water a congregation. This is associated with people in a church, attending a religious service. This continues the idea of religious imagery of water is a gift from God, and that it it something holy. In the poem light is used at the end of the poem. It is used to portray happiness of the moment and the wet children playing in the sun just having a good time. Also it continues the religious idea when angels bring good news they are accompanied by bright lights. The light also contrasts the hard dryness of the beginning. The skin cracks like a pod The poet is describing the earth cracking like a pod cracks open. The poet describes the water as silver. This gives a visual image of water shining in the sun and sge describes as treasure. The sound of a roar fo tongues, pictures the noise of the water a sit is comes out. The poet describes the liquid sun, she is describing the liquid sun is the idea of the sun reflected off the flowing water. The children are wet and shine as if polished. The poet includes three alliterations the first is small splash, these are two short words with the liquid s sound and it suggests the little sound of water dripping. The second is the sudden rush, again the liquid s-longer words or groups of sound this time, and it suggests the torrent of water. The third is the flow has found 0 again suggests the movement of water- smooth F sound. Another alliteration is the hard P sound, polished to perfection this suggests brightness. This  is one of the most enjoyable poems I have read because of the imagery and the sounds of imagery that are portrayed in the poem.

Innovations in Education free essay sample

Examines three books on inspirational methods techniques, parent-student relationship, teaching skills, obstacles challenges and flexibility. Surpassing the Status Quo: Uncovering Challenges in the Classroom In Horaces Compromise, Theodor Sizer presents a comparative study of high schools across America in the 1980s. In Tales Out of School, Patrick Welsh renders an insiders view of daily activities at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. In Among Schoolchildren, Tracy Kidder records his meticulous year-long observation of Chris Zajacs fifth-grade class at the Kelly School in Holyoke, Massachusetts. These three accounts offer inspirational yet balanced appraisals of how diverse selves can be seen struggling daily to excel as contemporary American schoolteachers. Read collectively, these works offer a how-to manual for superior teaching, suggesting which educational..

Self Disclosure in a Happy Marriage Essay Example

Self Disclosure in a Happy Marriage Essay Example Self Disclosure in a Happy Marriage Essay Self Disclosure in a Happy Marriage Essay Happy Marriage In order for a marriage to be a happy marriage, communication is important. There is different ways a couple can communicate. A couple can make a happy marriage last for years by self-disclosure. I feel I can relate to this article on self-disclosure in relationships. My husband and I have always tried to communicate our thoughts and feelings with one another. It has been challenging at times, especially after having children. We mainly find our â€Å"10 minutes† around bed time. Ten minutes is not that long, when you think about it†¦it just means paying attention to your partner and asking one question (and responding when) they ask one question (Schoenberg, 2011). A recent example, after my husband and I were settled down for the day, we were watching the news. The news has plenty of topics for communication. The topic came up about winning the lottery. My husband and I had a really good conversation of what we would do with the money if we had won it. It was very pleasing to know that we were fairly on the same page. I do agree that self-disclosure is important and directly related to satisfaction in relationships. By being open and honest with each other on topics, it brings you a since of togetherness. It also opens up one’s soul. â€Å"The process of developing and deepening a relationship requires reciprocal and appropriate self-disclosure and the development of mutual trust (Sole, 2011)†. I believe there are gender differences; however, I think when it comes to affection and sense of belonging, both genders need it. With my husband and I, we both need to have the reassurance of our love. We both have requested each other to do little things such as telling each other how much the other one means to us, writing a little love note, or simply sending a simple text to say, â€Å"have a good day†. I do feel like I fit into the gender generalizations. I can compare myself in a lot of the results from studies. Even though some aspects of me may be different, I do mainly seem to fit in. Communication is important in a happy marriage. By being open and honest with each other of one’s thoughts and feelings, you are showing self-disclosure. With all the ways a couple can communicate, self-disclosure has been linked to having a long, happy marriage.

Marketing Plan- Victoria House Hotel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing Plan- Victoria House Hotel - Essay Example Moreover, since the area is an attractive tourist spot, it has become a center of attention for many high end tourists and corporate clients who frequently travel to this area, giving the whole industry an advantage of increased customer traffic owing to the efficiently operating tourist industry as well as airline industry giving benefits of travel and tourism to customers. An overall change in the travel and dining out habits of consumers and potential clients has given the industry an extra advantage in terms of people dining out more frequently than ever before. Despite the benefits this industry enjoys, it is unfortunately also facing increased legislation and restrictions from administration and government which are creating new barriers such as licensing laws and ban on smoking in public areas. Taking a look at the firm itself and the internal factors affecting the health of it, we see that the Hotel is in an overall advantageous state in terms of profits and growth. It has be en consistently expanding successfully, improving areas such as accommodation and entertainment. It is located at a strategically profitable location where tourists find it convenient to travel the nearest tourist spots and come back to the Victoria House Hotel later. The Hotel has been experiencing raising profits and has a dedicated team well trained in customer care in order to make the clients feel at home. One drawback that the Hotel has been facing is a reduction in corporate clients which needs to be addressed and solved as soon as possible (Thomas, 1998; Eldring, 2009). Target Audience Victoria House Hotel has seen a trend of declining corporate audience and tourists over the past year which is a sign of losing future profits because this portion of the industry is a thriving opportunity to be captured. The industry has faced a 20% rise in corporate events and hence a rise in corporate customers traffic. This means that in future, it is expected that corporate customers†™ traffic along with tourists will increase, due to tourism and airline industries attempts to attract tourists and those clients who travel for business and trade reasons. The aim of Victoria House Hotel should hence be to attract this specific niche which has a lot of scope and new opportunities to be availed for future profitability. Provision of exclusive packages and luxury accommodation and travel to specific clients will help the company make higher profits as well as the advantage of having no direct competition when considering this specific niche in the industry (Luther, 2011; Westwood, 2012). Marketing Objectives For the company to ensure effective operations and improvement, it needs to define its objectives clearly that are to be different from other competitors. If the company keeps operating in this cut throat competition targeting the mass market, it will soon have to give up its profits and reduce operating margins or hope that competitors don’t come up wit h better strategies. 1) Target a specific audience and provide them benefits accordingly. It is not possible to satisfy everyone, hence only a certain segment of the target market will be chosen in this case, the corporate

Case study on Wilson Construction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case study on Wilson Construction - Essay Example The best option for the company is trying to increase its revenue base in order to improve the situation. Just having two or three projects supporting such a large purchase is not feasible and hence the company should market more often to attract more customers. In case these are two exhaustive options, the company should clearly select the option b because it is yielding a lower negative number and hence if the company wants to save its position it should try to adopt the option b. Money rates of returns do not reflect the time value of money. All economies face the phenomenon that the purchasing power of money constantly falls with the passage of time. Hence, inflation is needed to be taken into account in order to arrive at the real rate of return or rate of returns that are adjusted against inflation. The discounting factor of 23 percent has been adjust by multiplying it by 104 in order to arrive at the inflation adjusted discount rate to give better idea regarding the position o f the company and how much it should earn in order to safeguard its position against falling value of a dollar due to inflation and alternative projects that are available to a company. This way the money return has been adjusted to real return and provides a better picture of how much return the company needs to earn on its projects to safeguard the value of its wealth in real terms and to make sure that it is not losing money. If a company does not pay heed to the time value of money it cannot tell whether it has made or lost money and hence it is considered one of the fundamental concepts of finance and needs to be taken into account every time the company needs to make an important decision. This will make sure that the company’s resources are being used for earning proper returns and not just money returns that are not adjusted against inflation. Given the scenario it can be said that there are several factors that should affect the viability of ALII. These include how m uch saving using a faster crane would be made. All the company’s processes would become more efficient and it would save some money, but the question does not speak about it and if all of this is taken into account, the project’s NPV would very well be positive. Other than that, there will be other factors like financing options, providing the financer with a collateral, impact of this purchase on the taxes for example, the company can use diminishing balance method and charge high depreciation rates to its balance sheet in order to get a saving in taxes. All of this should be taken into account and the company should also hire some good finance managers and should not rely on amateur finance people who do not know about the jack of the problem and their discussion is nothing but layman’s observation of the issue. Hence, the best thing for the company is to hire some specialist finance people who have better information than the current participants of the meeti ng who do not

The Advertisement to Warn of the Adverse Effects of Cigarette Smoking Essay

The Advertisement to Warn of the Adverse Effects of Cigarette Smoking - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that images provide useful mental information with hidden meaning that requires analysis to get the intended message. Advertisements use images and drawings to give cautionary measures and a summary of what could have taken considerable space when presented in text format. Advertisements contain arguments targeted at persuading the consumers of an individual product to increase the rates of purchase. Advertisements include sequentially arranged information that a market specialist and a psychologist designed to persuade a particular target group. Some people draw for leisure while others, like cartoonists, draw for pay. The main feature is that any visual document has a message to pass to the viewers. The paper analyzes an advertisement banner by the Health Canada. The visual text analyzed has a size of 500mm by 267mm. The left-hand side of the banner pictures a teenage girl holding a lighted cigarette. The image appears on an orange backgr ound. The author drafted the word warning using white fonts on a black background on the right of the picture. Below the warning sign, words indicating the repercussions and the negative results of smoking appear. In addition, the texts indicate the addictive and harmful nature of smoking to scare and warn the innocent from engaging in the practice. The health organization has also provided their mobile contact and a link to their website page. The lady in the picture has a wrinkled forehead, defective left eye, brown stained teeth, stained nails, and reddened eyeball. She also has red gum and lips. She looks horrible from the first sight. Her hair seems unhealthy and dull. The visual art targets youths who smoke and prospective youth smokers as well. The visual art does this by clearly presenting the negative effects of cigarette smoking visible to the public and the people around us. The visual text clearly conveys the message that cigarette smoking is harmful to human health. The setting environment is dull by the choice of color. A faint, orange-yellow color in many instances usually indicates sickness, decay, and caution. The picture portrays the young lady as young and attractive. Youth life is an attractive era according to art. She is sick because of smoking.