Abstract
The beaches of southern Florida are crucial to the economy and coastal communities of these areas. Increasing severity of storms and sea level rise pose a serious threat to these communities when they degrade beach conditions and flood shoreline areas. The purpose of this study was to observe changes in beach conditions during storm season to changes to determine if the differing beach characteristics, such as presence of native vegetation, invasive vegetation, or minimal vegetation, may play a role in storm mitigation. Dune vegetation abundance, trash abundance, slope, and marine vegetation abundance were recorded in July of 2024 and December of 2024. Visual quadrat surveys were used to estimate vegetation abundance in the dune and seagrass ecosystems. Trash collected from within the dune, shore, and water were collected to estimate trash abundance. Elevation was recorded using an eye level and height stick to determine beach slope. There were no major storms in the 2024 storm season. There were no significant differences in the beach conditions at any beach site considering before and after data. There appear to be changes in dune vegetation abundance and trash accumulation however. The location of each beach, starting vegetation abundance, visitor traffic, and previous beach restoration may be variables that caused these changes at each site pre and post storm in addition to the potential variables of vegetation and type of vegetation. Conditions should be monitored at one site with controlled differing starting features to determine what features may make Miami shorelines more resilient to storm effects.