THE TRANSPLANTING AND SURVIVAL OF TURTLE GRASS, 

 Thalassia testudinum, IN BOCA CIEGA BAY, FLORIDA' 



John A. Kelly, Jr., Charles M. Fuss, Jr., and John R. Hall= 



ABSTRACT 



Turtle grass was transplanted to an unvegetated, dredged canal and a hand-cleared portion of a flour- 

 ishing grass bed. Complete or partial success was attained in 7 of 14 methods used. The best method, 

 in which short-shoots (rhizomes removed) were dipped in a solution of plant hormone (Naphthalene 

 Acetic Acid) and attached to construction rods for transplanting, was 100% successful and may be 

 suitable for general application. 



Turtle grass, Thalassia testudinum, and other 

 marine grasses are an invaluable asset to the 

 marine ecosystem. They are primary producers 

 and form an essential ecological niche in which 

 a great number and variety of species find food 

 and shelter. They are also important agents 

 in the control of substrate erosion and the de- 

 positions of sediments (Stephens, 1966). 



Uncontrolled dredging and filling of sub- 

 merged lands have destroyed many turtle grass 

 beds and their dependent fauna, some of which 

 are economically important. An immediate need 

 exists not only for sharply restricting further 

 destruction of sea grass beds but also for re- 

 placing lost beds. One method of replacing them 

 may be by transplanting sea grasses to areas 

 that are suitable for their growth or to areas 

 that are made favorable by soundly planned en- 

 gineering (Phillips, 1960; Strawn, 1961). 

 Areas surrounding spoil banks and finger-fill 

 canals (dredged canals between filled land mass- 

 es) would be suitable if they were constructed 

 to supply zones of optimum depth for growth of 

 marine grasses. 



Unsuccessful earlier attempts to transplant 

 turtle grass in Tampa Bay showed that the main 

 problem was erosion by tidal currents. Turtle 

 grass is buoyant, and new transplants tend to 



' Contribution No. 64 from the National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service Biological Laboratory, St. Petersburg 

 Beach, Fla. 3.3706. 



' National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Lab- 

 oratory, St. Petersburg Beach, Fla. 33706. 



work free of the sediments and float to the sur- 

 face when disturbed by water movement (Phil- 

 lips, personal communication)." Another ma- 

 rine plant, eelgrass (Zostera marina), was 

 transplanted successfully on the coast of Wash- 

 ington by Phillips (1967) and in the Aleutian 

 Islands by Jones* and McRoy' (personal com- 

 munication), but details on methods are not yet 

 published. Successful growth of turtle grass 

 under artificial conditions (Fuss and Kelly, 

 1969) led us to attempt transplanting it from 

 one field location to another as described in the 

 present paper. 



Turtle grass spreads vegetatively by creeping 

 rhizomes (long-shoots) buried in the substrate 

 (Figure 1). Work by Tomlinson and Vargo 

 (1966) showed that this growth is dependent 

 entirely upon the vigorous activity of meriste- 

 matic tissue in the apexes of rhizomes. The 

 apex is also the only source of short-shoots (erect 

 lateral branches) that develop from buds at this 

 site. In the Miami area (Phillips, 1960) and 

 tropical parts of its range, the plants also re- 

 produce by flowering. Tampa Bay, however, is 

 near the northern limit of the flowering capa- 

 bihty of Thalassia (Phillips, 1960); thus, we 



Manuscript received January 1971. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 69. NO. 2, 1971. 



' Phillips, Ronald C, Department of Botany, Seattle 

 Pacific College, Seattle, Wash. 98119. 



' Jones, R. D., Jr., Range Manager, Bureau of Sport 

 Fisheries and Wildlife, Aleutian Islands National Wild- 

 life Refuge, Cold Bay, Alaska 99571. 



° McRoy, C. P., Institute of Marine Science Univer- 

 sity of Alaska, College, Alaska 99701. 



273 



