It has taken millions of years for the long, slow process of evolution to develop specific adaptations that suit dune dwellers to their environment. There are variations between individuals in every form of life. Mostly these are normal inherited variations, such as height or color. But sometimes sudden variations, called “mutations,” occur through accidental changes in the genes controlling inheritance. These are new characteristics not found in other members of the same species. If the mutation is advantageous it may be passed on, and it is in this way that new life forms slowly develop. If the mutation allows a species to live more easily in its environment, it may displace some older form, which may then be unable to compete successfully for food, water, or shelter. Indeed, all life is engaged in a constant struggle for survival; it is those individuals and species best able to adapt to the changing conditions of their environment that endure. Think of the whole series of crises faced by any living thing in its lifetime, then of these crises being met and overcome in the seemingly inhospitable environment of the dunes. In the beginning, our dune dweller must be born, a difficult enough task without interference from unkind surroundings; it must feed itself, here in an area where meals would certainly seem at a premium; it must grow, oftentimes shedding its skin in the process; it must live not only in the summer’s heat but, if its life span is that long, in the winter’s cold; it must endure long periods of drought, flood, wind, and storm; and most important of all, it must survive long enough to reproduce its kind, or else it has missed its goal. But such is the wonder of nature’s specializations that our dune dwellers can usually meet these normal crises. Their adaptability and rate of reproduction safely insure the future of their kind, and their overpopulation, if left to nature, is delicately controlled by available food and shelter and their predators. Exploring the dunes and making the acquaintance of the inhabitants, you can see this environmental community meshing its lives together, and you can observe the fine degree of adaptation developed by each life form. You may find an occasional Apple tree growing out of the sand, rooted in a more fertile soil below, a reminder of the time when that bit of the Neck was a rich farmland. The roots of the Beach Plum also reach down to the water table, and it is thus able to grow out of the sand, although its seedlings cannot take root in the sand. Most of all, you will have an opportunity to note many special animal and plant peculiarities the dune dwellers have developed to suit their particular environment. SOME ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS _A Nest Deep Down in the Sand_