Detailed Description of Research Projects

SeagrassNet, which I direct, is an expanding global monitoring effort that is expanding. In 2002-03, I extended SeagrassNet to Brazil, giving a workshop at the University of Rio de Janeiro and taking several field trips that included training sessions for seagrass graduate students, marine managers, and national park personnel. SeagrassNet sites were established in Indonesia in the summer of 2002. I conducted a field training session in Komodo, Indonesia with participation from The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. A monitoring site was established in Tanzania and all the SeagrassNet sites in the Western Pacific continued with quarterly fixed-transect monitoring. Environmental sensors and seagrass samples are sent to UNH for processing; the SeagrassNet web site is now fully operational (www.SeagrassNet.org) to receive monitoring data.

Over the last five years, I have developed, with Dr. David Burdick (JEL and DNR) an eelgrass-based Nutrient Pollution Indicator (NPI) which provides early indication of nitrogen over-enrichment leading to eutrophication of coastal and estuarine waters. With funds from CICEET and the UNH Agricultural Experiment Station, over the last year we have created a instructional interactive CD-ROM explaining the scientific background of the NPI as well as its application so that other scientists and managers may use this indicator to assess the nutrient status of their areas. Additionally, we have three manuscripts going out for review on various aspects of the NPI including assessing nutrient gradients in New England estuaries, temporal and spatial influences on the NPI, use of deployed eelgrass to expand the range of NPI applicability, and detailed mesocosm experiments testing the absolute impact of nutrient loading conditions.

Seagrass studies in the Great Bay Estuary during the past year included long-term monitoring of eelgrass restoration sites in the Piscataqua River which has been summarized in two publications (in prep.) with my student Ms. Tay Evans. An invertebrate survey of eelgrass restoration sites and reference sites in Great Bay was conducted with Dr. Ray Grizzle (JEL and Zoology). Annual surveying, including aerial photography, as well as mapping of eelgrass distribution in the estuary was conducted in August 2002 and has been incorporated into the New Hampshire Estuary Program database. Quarterly sampling of the New Hampshire SeagrassNet monitoring site has demonstrated the seasonality of eelgrass populations and documented the impact of grazing by Canada geese on eelgrass (part of an undergraduate independent study project, D. Rivers, above).

During 2002-03, I worked on the World Atlas of Seagrasses with Dr. Edmund Green of the World Conservation Cambridge, England. The Atlas, of which we are co-editors, is a compilation of regional information with 24 chapters from different parts of the world describing the most up-to-date seagrass information available, and a global synthesis of seagrass status and threats. The Atlas was published by the University of California Press in September 2003.

A main focus of my work is ecological restoration science and the development of techniques for seagrass restoration. An eelgrass restoration effort in Little Harbor, New Hampshire, was completed in fall of 2002. The restoration project was mitigation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging impacts associated with the improvement of the State of New Hampshire mooring area off the Wentworth Marina in New Castle, New Hampshire. The restoration provided the opportunity to compare two eelgrass transplanting methods which we have developed at UNH and to test their effectiveness in large-scale transplanting. The transplanted areas have been monitored since last fall and the restoration has been shown to be successful in restoring 5.5 acres of eelgrass. The outcomes have been written up for publication.

The recently published site selection model (Short et al. 2002) for eelgrass restoration is now being expanded to predict spatial coverage of restorable eelgrass areas for any estuary using a GIS-based version of the model. The technology development in the creation of the spatial GIS model is part of a research effort funded by the Co-operative Institute of Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET) at UNH.

Community based restoration is a relatively new field with great potential. With a master's degree student, I have investigated the use of TERFS (Transplanting Eelgrass Remotely with Frame Systems), a new eelgrass restoration technique developed by my lab at UNH, as a planting method that can be used by volunteer community groups. We have created an interactive instructional CD-ROM explaining the application of the TERFS method for community use in restoring eelgrass. The CD-ROM provides a complete manual for any group wishing to undertake eelgrass restoration and is now being used in North Carolina, Washington State, Connecticut, and Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.

With my graduate students, I am investigating several aspects of seagrass ecology and restoration. We are looking at patch size as it may influence transplanting success as well as the abundance and diversity of fish species in restored eelgrass beds of different sizes. We are also looking at the characteristics of eelgrass growth and identifying quick and reliable methods for non-destructively determining plant production. In mesocosm and field studies, a student is examining the effects of water depth on eelgrass survival and plant size. In another combination of mesocosm and field work, we are investigating the relationship between eelgrass growth and photosynthesis using the Pulse Amplitude Modulated (PAM) fluorometer.