Factors Affecting the Distribution of Organisms in the Intertidal Zones of Sandy Beaches

Abstract

Our understanding of the factors that affect the distribution of organisms on sandy beaches has gone through two stages. The process of learning has been especially hampered by the fact that even the largest beach organisms are usually buried in the sand during the period when the intertidal zone is most accessible to researchers. In the first phases of our understanding, researchers observed that sandy beach organisms were distributed into zones, similar to those found on rocky shores (Stephen, 1929, 1930; Elmhirst, 1931; Newcombe, 1935; Rees, 1939; Watkin, 1942; Brady, 1943; Southward, 1953).