Seagrass-Watch Magazine Issue 47 - March 2013 | Page 20

Sprigs
Sprigs (bare-root transplant units consisting of small rhizome
sections with a small number of leaf-bearing shoots and
rhizome/root nodes) of Cymodocea rotundata, C. serrulata,
Halodule uninervis, Syringodium isoetifolium and Thalassia
hemprichii were selectively removed from a donor meadow by
hand. Bundles of sprigs were then planted into a hole in the
sediment created using a crowbar. Beside each sprig was laid a
bamboo stake as a reference point. Unfortunately, only shoots of
Thalassia survived in the transplant site.

Bricks were mounted at each corner of the frame for ballast. At
the transplant site, the bamboo frames were inverted and
dropped to the seafloor (i.e. roots and rhizomes into the substrate
and the leaves pointing to the water surface). The frame was
removed once the plastic ties had degraded after a month and the
shoots had anchored into the sediment. Using the TERF
technique, only T. hemprichii survived – all other species died.

Limited success: using the TERF technique, only T. hemprichii survived – all other
species died.

Success: Transplanted sprigs of Thalassia hemprichii surrounded by single shoots of
Enhalus acoroides.

TERFS method
In this method, a weighted bamboo frame, to which seagrass
shoots are tied with biodegradable plastic, was dropped onto the
transplant site. TERFS are usually made from a steel frame, but
this was expensive and prone to theft. Bamboo stakes on the
other hand were inexpensive, easy to work and safe from theft.
The frames were made of bamboo stakes 2cm diameter and 40 60 cm long. They are arranged in a 10cm grid and tied with
plastic at the meeting point. Shoots of T. hemprichii, C.
rotundata, C. serrulata, H. uninervis and S. isoetifolium were
collected from a donor meadow, and their leaves were trimmed
to 2cm of the leaf midrib. Seagrass shoots (25 per frame) were
mounted up