Here is the comprehensive guide to the natural history of this country's most visited span of seashore. Author Bill Perry describes the forces that shape the coast-geology, climate, currents, and waves-and the life forms that inhabit its major bio tic communities: barrier beaches, estuaries, salt marshes-; and seagrass beds. Hundreds of plants and animals are described in detail, from inSnitesimal plankton to the osprey and the hammerhead shark-with emphasis on their ecological relationships and how to observe them in the Seld. Any seashore explorer will Snd this book an invaluable companion. Bill Perry is a veteran nature writer and photographer, and author of several guidebooks for the National Park Service. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.