1. Seagrass restoration in Little Lagoon May 2 nd and 3 rd 2009 Bart Christiaen

2. What are seagrasses? flowering plants salt water ShoalgrassWidgeongrassTurtlegrass

3. Why are they important? Food & shelter

4. Why are they important? sediment stabilization input organic matter sediment chemistry

5. Problem: worldwide decline seagrass declines reported since 1970 (Short & Echeverria 1996)

6. Underlying cause...

7. For example: in Florida Population increase Decrease in seagrass cover

8. Mechanism Direct effects: prop scarring, construction,...

9. Mechanism Indirect effects: shading

10. Shading

11. What can we do? Government: protection of existing beds regulation of dredging, watershed development,... Citizens: responsible boating

12. What can we do?

13. If water quality is sufficient Seagrass restoration

14. Seagrass restoration in Little Lagoon

15. Not as simple as it looks Notoriously high failure rate You’ve got to do it right!

16. Site selection Site selection based on water quality, sediment, exposure to wave energy,... NE corner of Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge, near the Jeff Friend Trail

17. Method selection & test Best candidate for restoration: shoalgrass

18. Method selection & test Appropriate method: transplantation % survival shoalgrass plugs weeks % survival

19. Method selection & test

20. It works = bigger scale!

21. But... Seagrass transplantation is a lot of work

22. We need help When? → 2 nd & 3 rd May of 2009 → 10.30 in the morning Where? → parking lot of Jeff Friend Trail What? → short demonstration → planting together with students from Dauphin Island Sea Lab → knee deep – waist deep water

23. We need help If you want to volunteer, please contact Dennis Hatfield Bart Christiaen (bchristiaen@disl.org) THANK YOU

24. If you have any questions Please ask!