The coastal zone represents the dynamic interface between the marine, the terrestrial and the aeolian environments. It is here, too, that many of Man's activities have been, and continue to be, focussed. As human pressures on the coast increase, there emerges a corresponding need for integrated and rational coastal management strategies. The interdisciplinary nature of landscape ecology makes it an ideal framework for studying and managing this complex, yet crucially important, region of the earth's surface.