The ecologist describes these as plant associations. These include the dune grass association: dune grass-beach heather; low thicket of moderate moisture—“mesic” to the ecologist; fresh marsh; salt grass-myrtle; red `cedar-pine woodlands; high mesic thicket beach heather; salt marsh-marsh elder savanna, and the salt marsh.
While the distribution is likely to follow this sequence from ocean to bay, the pattern and distribution will be a mosaic rather than bands. These will reflect the variability of this environment in the most precise way.