KELLY. FUSS, and HALL; TRANSPLANTING TURTLE GRASS 



through the 3-month period February-April, and 

 2.5Cf during the remainder of the study. Losses 

 in the control area for the same time intervals 

 were 25, 10, 5, and 5%, respectively. 



Mortality experienced during phase II was 

 also high. Over half (BTSr ) of the sprigs trans- 

 planted in April failed before the end of the 

 third month (July) and T;} from August to Oc- 

 tober. Additional failures within this phase 

 might have occurred had the experiment con- 

 tinued through the winter. 



CONCLUSIONS AND 

 RECOMMENDATIONS 



Our experiments resulted in the first success- 

 ful field transplantation of turtle grass. All 

 new short-shoots produced by transplants were 

 from the new rhizome apexes (Figure 5). This 

 finding supports the observations of Phillips 

 (1960) and Tomlinson and Vargo (1966) that 

 buds on the rhizome apex are the only source 

 of short-shoots. It is also in agreement with 

 findings in the tank culture of Thalassia (Fuss 

 and Kelly, 1969). Continuous growth of turtle 

 grass depends on the activity of vigorous rhi- 

 zome apexes, but the apexes do not contain the 

 only meristematic tissue in the plant. New 

 rhizomes can be produced from residual meris- 

 tematic tissue present in the old short-shoot. 

 Phillips (1960) observed such branching in the 

 field and stated that it could account for the 

 continued growth of turtle grass if the apex 

 of the rhizome were damaged or lost, but be- 

 lieved that the frequency of this branching was 

 small. Tomlinson and Vargo (1966) also re- 

 ported that vegetative branching in short-shoots 

 occurs and indicated that it is rare. 



Undamaged leaves may not be required for 

 sprig transplanting. Further studies are needed 

 to determine, for example, if the leaves could be 

 cut back to reduce the surface area and buoy- 

 ancy of the sprig. Results of investigations in 

 Boca Ciega Bay by Prest, Saloman, and Taylor' 

 show that turtle grass leaves clipped as much 



as 50% of their original height (about 26 cm) 

 would regrow as much as 3 to 4 cm (1.2 to 1.6 

 inches) per week. It would thus appear that 

 physical damage to leaves is quickly overcome 

 by regrowth of the plant. 



We have shown that turtle grass can be trans- 

 planted in the field and that it will grow in an 

 area denuded by coastal dredging. A simple 

 transplant method using only the short-shoots 

 of this grass, the hormone NAPH, and con- 

 struction rod was 100% successful (six trans- 

 plants) in a land-fill finger canal (Table 2). This 

 method has value for use in restoring Thalassia 

 to estuarine environments when conditions fa- 

 vorable for plant growth exist or can be arti- 

 ficially created. We must emphasize however, 

 that no large-scale transplant program has been 

 attempted. Moreover, recent observations (No- 

 vember 1970)' of vegetative growth into our 

 original control site indicate that turtle grass 

 spreads at an annual rate of only 20 cm (8 

 inches) or less. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Fuss, C. M., Jr., and J. A. Kelly, Jr. 



1969. Survival and growth of sea grasses trans- 

 planted under artificial conditions. Bull. Mar. 

 Sci. 19: 351-365. 

 HuTTON, R. F., B. Eldred, K. D. Woodburn, and R. M. 

 Ingle. 



1956. The ecology of Boca Ciega Bay with special 

 reference to dredging and filling operations. Part 

 I. Fla. State Bd. Conserv., Tech. Ser. 17, 87 p. 

 Phillips, R. C. 



1960. Observations on the ecology and distribution 

 of the Florida seagrasses. Fla. State Bd. Con- 

 serv., Mar. Lab. Prof. Pap. Ser. 2, 72 p. 



1967. On species of the seagrass, Halodule, in 

 Florida. Bull. Mar. Sci. 17: 672-676. 

 Stephens, W. M. 



1966. Life in the turtle grass. Sea Frontiers 12: 

 264-275. 

 Strawn, K. 



1961. Factors influencing the zonation of sub- 

 merged monocotyledons at Cedar Key, Florida. 

 J. Wildl. Manage. 25: 178-189. 



' Unpublished data on file National Marine Fisheries 

 Service Biological Laboratory, St. Petersburg Beach, 

 Fla. 33706. 



' Unpublished data on file National Marine Fisheries 

 Service Biological Laboratory, St. Petersburg Beach, 

 Fla. 33706. 



279 



