Beach erosion is a concern for many living and visiting shore communities. William Paterson University Associate Professor of Biology Michael Peek is researching the dunes and grasses at beach areas in New Jersey. “A healthy dune system equals healthy beaches,” says Peek, who spoke with NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider about his research.

Peek said the healthy dune system allows beach-goers to sunbathe and participate in other beach activities. The American beach grass in particular holds New Jersey’s beaches together, he explained. He added, however, that coastal dune systems are meant to erode through time naturally, which means beach areas left alone in nature would not remain the same.

“As time goes on and people build infrastructure behind those beaches, they tend to want them to keep in place and so in order for those dunes to be healthy and in place, what many people do is they add sand to the beaches and they undergo restoration projects where they actually plant dune grass to promote that healthy beach and dune ecosystem,” Peek explained.

Apart from Hurricane Irene, Peek said the past year has been mild for New Jersey’s beaches, as have the past few seasons. “However, over the long term with current climate change and sea level rise you can expect erosion to continue to happen and you can expect the integrity of the dune system to be pretty much always at risk,” he said. “That’s why it’s essential to have a robust dune system, to have those grasses keeping the beach and the dune system together.”

Peek said any changes over the last five to 10 years are probably not noticeable, but over the past 200 to 300 years, he said the area has lost several hundred feet of beach as sea level rises and the continent shifts westward.

Peek said his research focuses on how beach grass performs under a variety of stressful conditions. He said typically when beaches are restored or replenished, a particular variety of beach grass from Massachusetts is planted. “The focus of my research is to look at some native New Jersey genotypes to see if those would be better plants to grow in local New Jersey micro-habitats,” he said.

The research involves using a greenhouse to compare the growth and physiology of the New Jersey beach grass and those plants from Massachusetts. “Now whether or not that translates into growth differences in a restoration event, we don’t know yet,” Peek said. “That would be the best phase of our research in finding out how these grasses respond to stresses.”

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