bitter panicum from Ocracoke Island stock; (c) nursery transplants of 

 Hatteras beachgrass, a locally adapted strain of American beachgrass; 



(d) a combination of transplants used in (a) and sea oats from Duck; 



(e) a combination of transplants used in (a) and (c) ; and (f) a 

 combination of transplants used in (a) , (c) , and (d) . 



The planting was sampled in October 1973 and 1974. Nine 14-meter 

 transects were sampled in 1973, across the width of each of the 18 

 experimental plots. A modification of the line intercept technique was 

 used to determine number of leaves, culms (stems), and percentage of the 

 lengtii of the transect actually occupied by shoots (plant cover) for 

 American beachgrass, bitter panicum, and sea oats. A stand count was 

 also conducted on selected plots to compare the number of living bitter 

 panicum plants per row where the entire transplant was buried in a furrow 

 with those estalalished by the conventional upright planting technique. 



Five 1-square-meter quadrats (subplots) were sampled in 1974, in 

 each of the 18 plots. The different species present and the estimated 

 combined cover were recorded for each plot. The aboveground vegetation 

 was clipped for selected species for subsequent biomass determinations, 

 and dried at 70° Celsius prior to dry weight determinations for 

 American beacligrass, bitter panicum, shoredune panicum, Triplasis 

 purpurea (Walt.) Chapm. (purple sandgrass) , and sea oats. 



The planting was observed periodically and fertilized at the rate 

 of 56 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare (one time the first growing 

 season and three times the second) . 



3. Planting at Drum Inlet, North Carolina . 



The experimental planting at Drum Inlet was located about 100 meters 

 inland on the level strand 1 or 2 meters above the normal mean high tide 

 level (Fig. 6) . There were scattered clumps of native Spartina patens 

 (Ait.) Muhl. (saltmeadow cordgrass) and sea oats throughout the planting 

 site. Since the study was concerned with dune building as well as 

 stabilization at this site, a 0.61-meter sand fence (Fig. 6) was 

 constructed in February 1973 to accumulate a ridge of sand before 

 planting. 



The planting was established during 13 to 15 March 1973, using 

 mechanical procedures cited earlier. The variably spaced, mixed 

 species planting was designed to determine dune building and dune 

 stabilization response by three species of grass witli primary emphasis 

 on bitter panicum. Seven treatments consisted of nursery-grown 

 transplants of: (a) NJ-327 American beachgrass; (b) Cape American 

 beachgrass (Gaffney and Duell, 1974) formerly NJ-390; (c) Hatteras 

 beachgrass, a locally adapted strain of American beachgrass; (d) 

 bitter panicum from Hatteras Island; (e) a combination of (c) and 

 (d) ; (f) a combination of (d) and sea oats from Drum Inlet; and (g) a 

 combination of (c) , (d) , -and (f) . One row of sea oats and two rows of 

 bitter panicum (buried) ran through all plots of all treatments. 

 Saltmeadow cordgrass was not planted. The planting was oriented 



14 



