Coral is a collection of small, individual coral animals called polyps. When the polyps die, new polyps build their home on top of the limestone skeletons. As you can imagine, coral reefs take a long time to grow. They depend on coral for food and protection and the coral depend on zooxanthellae for oxygen and food. Dunes are created by dune grasses, which trap sand grains being moved across the beach by wind.
Dunes stabilize the mounds of sand that protect the coast against winds and pounding tides.
Florida beaches are important nesting sites for sea turtles and shore birds. A loss of beach habitat to real estate development has caused a decline in the nesting shore bird and sea turtle populations. Freshwater Marsh Sawgrass marsh with spatterdock, Water Conservation Area 3. Freshwater marshes are generally wetlands with an open expanse of grasses, sedges, rushes and other herbaceous plants, where standing water occurs for much of the year. Marshes generally contain few if any trees and shrubs.