The main differences between beach nourishment and vegetation management in their approaches to managing beach erosion can be summarized as follows:
a) Only beach nourishment provides protection from floods: Beach nourishment typically involves adding sand to the beach, which can enhance the beach's capacity to absorb wave energy, helping to protect against flooding and erosion. Vegetation management does not directly address flooding but can stabilize sand.
b) Only vegetation management replaces sand on the beach: This statement is incorrect. Beach nourishment is the process that involves replacing or adding sand to the beach, whereas vegetation management focuses on planting and maintaining vegetation to stabilize existing sand dunes and prevent erosion.
c) Only beach nourishment uses a hard structure to manage erosion: This is misleading. Beach nourishment does not necessarily involve hard structures; it primarily relies on adding sand. Hard structures (like sea walls or groins) are different from nursing practice.
d) Only vegetation management brings in plants to keep sand on beaches: This statement is accurate as vegetation management involves planting native plants and maintaining existing vegetation to stabilize sand dunes and reduce erosion naturally.
In summary, the correct understanding is that beach nourishment involves adding sand to the beach to combat erosion, while vegetation management uses plants to stabilize the existing sand and dunes. Vegetation management can complement beach nourishment but does not directly replace sand.