Restoration of Cymodocea nodosa seagrass meadows through seed propagation: germination in vitro, seedling culture and field transplants
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Maite E. Zarranz
Abstract
Cymodocea nodosa, a marine angiosperm, an ecosystem engineer in the Mediterranean Sea and the Northwest Atlantic Ocean; however, as in other seagrasses meadows worldwide, the swards are actually declining due to increasing human pressures. Hence, we have developed an effective propagation methodology that provides C. nodosa seedlings for seagrass meadow restoration and conservation. This method consists of: i) germination of wild-collected seeds under hyposaline conditions, ii) acclimation of germinated seedling in tanks (1.6 m3) until there are two shoots per seedling (∼ 30 days), and iii) transplantation of acclimated seedlings to the field in dense groups. Our field outplants withstood herbivore activity and physical disturbance during the winter season, and propagated vegetatively, resulting in the spread and establishment of a new patch that has persisted for nine months.
©2010 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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Articles in the same Issue
- Research articles
- Aerial exposure and desiccation tolerances are correlated to species composition in “green tides” of the Salish Sea (northeastern Pacific)
- Species composition and distribution of macroalgae on Atol das Rocas, Brazil, SW Atlantic
- Effects of elevated CO2 and phosphorus supply on growth, photosynthesis and nutrient uptake in the marine macroalga Gracilaria lemaneiformis (Rhodophyta)
- Champia puertoricensis sp. nov. (Rhodophyta: Champiaceae) from Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea
- The occurrence of Laurencia marilzae (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) in Brazil based on morphological and molecular data
- First report of Cladostephus spongiosus (Sphacelariales: Phaeophyta) from the Pacific coast of Mexico
- The genus Pseudo-nitzschia (Bacillariophyceae) in Greek coastal waters
- Restoration of Cymodocea nodosa seagrass meadows through seed propagation: germination in vitro, seedling culture and field transplants
- Short communications
- Extensive off-shore meadows of Penicillus capitatus (Udoteaceae, Chlorophyta) in the Canary Islands (eastern Atlantic Ocean)
- Habitat-related allelic variation revealed by an anonymous DNA locus in reef-dwelling Turbinaria ornata (Fucales, Phaeophyceae)
- Erratum
- Coexistence of Ulva rigida and Ulva laetevirens (Ulvales, Chlorophyta) in Venice Lagoon and other Italian transitional and marine environments; Bot. Mar. 53 (2010): 9–18
