Easily affected
Highly dynamic
Integral component
Just behind the ocean front sand dune, growth and survival of specialized vegetation helps to maintain the fragile system. Such dune vegetation is robust and tolerant to extreme environmental conditions, but cannot survive being trampled.
“The Outer Banks is really only filaments of sand running across ancient river channels, relics of the last ice age, when sea levels were far lower and the coastline was hundreds of miles farther out than it is today.” – William A. Birkemeier