Coastal development has placed significant pressures on once
pristine sandy beaches. Among other stresses, property owners
often remove native vegetation and natural debris and replace
(or displace) native species with non-native ornamentals. Non-
native species can disrupt vegetative communities, pollination
cycles, water use, nutrient transfer, and patterns of erosion.
For example, Australian pines (Casuarina equisetifolia) often
crowd-out native trees, palm trees can exacerbate wind erosion,
and so on. These human-induced actions and reactions cause an
overall reduction in available nesting habitat for sea turtles,
and can significantly diminish the quality of the nesting
habitat that remains. Why is this important? Because the highly
endangered hawksbill sea turtle prefers to nest within the
shelter of woody vegetation. The loss of vegetation can mean
that a female must crawl further onshore in search of suitably
vegetated areas. Other sea turtle species prefer to nest on the
open beach platform (seaward o