Holy Name University

Janssen Heights, Dampas District, Tagbilaran City, Bohol

Seismic Uplifted Beaches

Gives rise to Abundance of Salt grass and Coral grass

Mary Rose Sevilla

Section C, BS Psychology 3

Mr. Noe Mejasco

September 14,2021
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ABSTRACT

The nature is one of the biggest factor of the abundance of plants, organisms, living or non-living thing.
Nature comprises with different aspects that are beneficial on every organism survival. For decades,
scientist, and environmentalist come together to understand and explain the very nature of the
environment and its system to come up with theories that would describe and solve the nature’s
disaster, problem, and solutions. We students who took the subject of ecology wish to know more about
the science of our nature and what could we hypothesize, in order to contribute in the science of
Ecology. The exercise guide walk is the activity to ecologically observe and research about the
interesting plants that we could find in two different habitats. We will take a look for the vegetation and
physical habitats that are located in different areas. You then make a hypotheses of the observation that
you get after the activity and make sure that it is testable so we could experiment the sample.

INTRODUCTION

The Bohol earthquake struck Loon’s coast on October 15, 2013, causing severe damage and coastal land-
level shifts that primarily damaged intertidal environments in the region. Our findings revealed the quick
colonization of dune plants on a single sandy beach following such an intense event, as well as the
subsequent growth of vegetated dunes in previously undeveloped high-shore habitats generated by the
(2 m) coseismic uplift. However, interactions between the uplift (which resulted in beach expansion).

The habitat’s that have been observed are two different areas of coastal beach. The 30 minute of
observation leads us to the discovery of this two known and interesting plants that suddenly grow after
the 2013 earthquake with 7.2 magnitude. This two plants immediately grow in numbers and widely
covers most of the coastal area of different barangays. These dune plants is called saltgrass in scientific
name called, ” Distichlis spicata” and the other one is Coral grass colony in scientific name, “Sesuvium
portulacastrum “. Using data from ecological surveys done after the Bohol earthquake, we quantify the
responses of coastal dune vegetation to habitat construction (i.e., increased beach width) and the
establishment of a new vegetated dune grass habitat following coseismic uplift (October 15, 2013). We
studied dune vegetation on the raised sandy beach in front of and close to coastal armouring along the
coast of Barangay Napo .Nearly 21 months after the earthquake (July 2015), dune-building plants began
to colonize the newly exposed upper shore, and a vegetated dune habitat began to emerge.

Natural processes could develop vegetated strand and dune communities that could store sand, provide
erosion protection, promote biodiversity, and become self-sustaining coastal landscape features as a
result of the coast's seismic uplift. This process started at the same time at all three research sites, but it
slowed dramatically at the armoured sites after a few months. Throughout our investigation, the plant
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community of the unprotected beach location displayed the greatest diversity and plant cover following
the earthquake and coseismic uplift. This coastal evolution comprised well-developed hummocks with a
diversified plant community, including upland plants, such as Coral Grass or “Sesuvium
portulacastrum “ at very early stages of succession, and salt tolerant grass species such
as Distichlis spicata. For this reason, we hypothesize that the result of the growing numbers of dune
plants was the result of the seismic uplift that was caused by the 2013 earthquake disaster. The
development of perennial vegetation, however, at the two sites produced wind-blown sand and
embryonic dunes transforming the survived coastal habitats providing an important ecoton between
intertidal and terrestrial ecosystems in a coastal area, natural and pre-earthquake barrier.

A diversified and well-developed dune plant community serves as an ecosystem engineer, providing
unique ecosystem functions and services such as buffering intertidal habitats and protecting delicate
inland ecosystems from flooding. Our findings show how, in the aftermath of a large natural disaster,
the establishment of new coastal dune vegetation can function as a natural barrier against erosion by
ocean forces.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We researched the sandy beach of Napo in Loon, which is open to the public and not privately owned or
recognized as a protected area (reserve or park). There were no protected or endangered species in the
field study. Two sites on armoured sections of the beach on the sides of the beaches used actively by
fishermen for storing and launching boats were included in the study area; the 2 nd site located north of
the jetty is in front of a seawall, while the site located south is in front of a rocky perimeter.

DISCUSSION

The two plants that have been observed is the Coral plant or “Sesuvium portulacastrum”  is a sprawling
perennial herb that grows in coastal areas throughout much of the world. It is commonly known
as shoreline purslane. Sesuvium portulacastrum is a sprawling perennial herb up to 30 centimetres
(12 in) high, with thick, smooth stems up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) long. It has smooth, fleshy, glossy green
leaves that are linear or lanceolate, from 10–70 millimetres (0.39–2.76 in) long and 2–15 millimetres.
Sesuvium portulacastrum grows in sandy clay, coastal limestone and sandstone, tidal flats and salt
marshes, throughout much of the world. The other plant that has been observed is the Saltgrass or
Distichlis spicata is a species of grass known by several common names, including seashore
saltgrass, inland saltgrass, and desert saltgrass. This grass is native to the Americas, where it is
widespread. It can be found on other continents as well, where it is naturalized. It is extremely salt
tolerant. Distichlis spicata is a hardy perennial with rhizomes and sometimes stolons. It is an erect grass
which occasionally approaches half a meter in height but is generally shorter. The solid, stiff stems have
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narrow leaves up to 10 centimeters in length, which may be crusted with salt in saline environments
This species is dioecious, meaning the male flowers and female flowers grow on separate individuals.
The pistillate inflorescence may be up to 8 centimeters long, with green or purple-tinted spikelets.
The staminate flowers look quite similar, thinner but larger overall and denser. The flower parts of both
sex may be bright pinkish-purple Because it gets rid of excess salts by secreting it onto its surfaces,
the Kawaiisu Indians were able to make salt blocks by scraping off the salt"Under favorable soil and
moisture conditions, studies have shown Saltgrass favorable for pastures irrigated with saline water. The
total dry matter yields were 9081 kg/ha with a total protein production of 1300 kg/ha. Saltgrass is
grazed by both cattle and horses and it has a forage value of fair to good because it remains green when
most other grasses are dry during the drought periods and it is resistant to grazing and trampling. It is
cropped both when green and in the dry state; however, it is most commonly used the winter for
livestock feed. Saltgrass along the Atlantic coast was the primary source of hay for the early colonists.
This two plants were seen nearby coastal are of Napo, and I was intrigued on how this colony of plants
started rising in numbers after the earthquake 8 years ago. What could have triggered on this plants to
reproduce this amount of colonies, that is why I formulated a hypotheses that correlate the relation of
seismic uplift with the rising of dune plant on the affected coastal area during earthquake.

Other sites along the coast affected by the Bohol earthquake showed patterns of colonization and
zonation by dune plants on the raised higher shore that were essentially comparable to those we saw at
Napo. Due to the heterogeneity of multiple habitation and intensities, it is difficult to generalize these
characteristics across locations, even within a same beach location, as demonstrated by our findings
from Napo. Nonetheless, our research shows how natural disaster can be valuable in understanding the
effects of large-scale disturbances on coastal ecosystems. Our research highlights the importance of
developing strategies and coastal implementation strategies that effectively integrate the effects of
natural and human-induced disturbances while encouraging the development of dynamic strand and
dune vegetation to benefit both society and conservation in vulnerable coastal ecosystems.
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DOCUMENTARIES

Coral grass

Salt grass

LITERATURE CITED
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