SMITH ET AL.: TRANSPLANTED EELGRASS FOR BAY SCALLOPS 



ONSLOW BAY 



Cape Lookout 



Figure 1.— An aerial view of Back Sound, North Carolina. Location of the study site and dredge island is long. 76°32'W. lat. 34°40'N. 



treatments had 16 planting units on 0.5 m centers 

 only within the eight 2.25 m^ sampling plots. A 

 planting unit consisted of 15 shoots of eelgrass tied 

 together and anchored in the substrate with metal 

 pins (Fonseca et al. 1985). 



Eelgrass transplantation was performed in Sep- 

 tember 1985. Eelgrass cover, shoot addition, and 

 seedling recruitment were monitored periodically in 

 the transplanted treatments. Shoot density and 

 cover in the natural meadow were monitored simul- 

 taneously with eelgrass seedling recruitment into 

 unplanted areas by surveying randomly chosen plots 

 within each treatment type. A 1.5 m x 1.5 m frame 

 subdivided with cords into 36, 0.25 x 0.25 m (0.063 

 m^) sections was laid down, marking the perimeter 

 of the plots. In the natural meadow and unplanted 

 areas, three randomly selected 0.063 m- sections 

 were surveyed within each plot for the number of 



eelgrass shoots and seedlings. In transplanted plots, 

 the intersections of alternate cords fell on the 16 

 eelgrass planting units per plot. Three of these were 

 randomly chosen and the number of shoots and area 

 of bottom covered were recorded for each planting 

 unit. To obtain the coverage estimate, a smaller grid 

 with cords on 5 cm intervals was placed over the 

 planting, and the number of squares (0.0025 m^) 

 and half squares with eelgrass shoots were summed 

 as area covered by the planting unit. 



Bay scallops were collected from eelgrass beds to 

 the southwest of the study site using a commercial 

 scallop dredge and were held in tanks supplied with 

 continuously flowing seawater. Seventy-five scallops 

 (size range from umbo to lip, 6.0-7.5 cm) were 

 marked with waterproof pens to denote the number 

 of the individual and its block assignment. Addition- 

 ally, we cut small notches in the shell ridges with 



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