A coastal sand-dune ecosystem relies on the recycling of nutrients from washed-up seaweed (kelp) along the strandline.
Figure 1 shows a cross-section of a sandy beach strandline.
Describe:
- how decomposers (such as marine bacteria and fungi) in the seaweed litter and sandy humus layers break down the dead organic matter to recycle chemical nutrients.
- how these recycled chemical substances are subsequently absorbed and used by the colonising beach grasses.