Ken Moore- Chesapeake Bay

10/17/2014
1
SAV in the Chesapeake Bay: SAV in the Chesapeake Bay:
Management and Restoration Management and Restoration
Workshop for Restoration of SAV in the Hudson Workshop for Restoration of SAV in the Hudson
River Estuary River Estuary
October 8, October 8, 2014 2014
Dr. Kenneth Moore
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Virginia
10/17/2014
2
Changing seagrass
distribution in the
Chesapeake Bay
over the past 70
years
10/17/2014
3
Chesapeake Bay
Submerged Aquatic
Vegetation
Communities
FRESHWATER
POTAMOGETON
RUPPIA
ZOSTERA
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4
Designated Use Zones for the
Chesapeake Bay and its Tidal Tributary Waters
A. Cross Section of Chesapeake Bay or Tidal Tributary
B. Oblique View of the “Chesapeake Bay” and its Tidal Tributaries
Shallow Water
Open Water
Deep Water
Deep Channel
Open Water
Habitat
Shallow Water
Habitat
Deep Water
Deep Channel
Migratory Finfish
Spawning and
Nursery Habitat
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5
SAV Habitat Requirements for Shallow Water
Use Zone
Salinity Kd
TSS
mg/l
Chl
μg/l
DIN
mg/l
DIP
mg/l
PLW PLL
Tidal Fresh
(<0.5 ppt)
< 2 < 15 < 15 --- < 0.02 > 13% > 9%
Oligohaline
(0.5-5 ppt)
< 2 < 15 < 15 --- < 0.02 > 13 % > 9%
Mesohaline
(5-18 ppt)
< 1.5 < 15 < 15 < 0.15 < 0.01 > 22% > 15%
Polyhaline
(>18 ppt)
< 1.5 < 15 < 15 < 0.15 < 0.02 > 22% > 15%
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Quantifying SAV Water Quality with “DataFlow”
10/17/2014
7
Mesohaline
Polyhaline
Water Quality
Mapping
Cruise Tracks
10/17/2014
8
Turbidity (NTU)
0.0 - 5.0
5.0 - 10.0
10.0 - 20.0
20.0 - 30.0
30.0 - 40.0
40.0 - 50.0
50.0 - 60.0
60.0 - 70.0
70.0 - 80.0
80.0 - 100.0
Interpolated
water
quality
components
10/17/2014
9
Repeat for each sampling event in assessment
period to determine percent light to the bottom percent light to the bottom or
exceedance of PLW standard exceedance of PLW standard
(in this example, there is one sampling event per month)
A
s
s
e
s
s
m
e
n
t

P
e
r
i
o
d
March
April
May
June
March
April
May
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10
Mapping of historical photographs used to set SAV restoration goals
10/17/2014
11
185,000 acres Restoration Goal
Accomplished by:
•Improving Water Quality
(reducing inputs of
nitrogen and sediment)
•Protecting Existing Beds
(education, dredging
issues, mute swans, water
quality)
•Restoring grass beds
(Provide source beds,
Increase species diversity)
10/17/2014
12
Annual mapping SAV from aerial photographs
is used to monitor SAV abundance
10/17/2014
13
Current York River Seagrass
10/17/2014
14
York River Seagrass in 1950s
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15
Estimate natural
reproductive
potential of
Vallisneria
10/17/2014
16
Observation Sites
Nanjemoy Creek, MD
Site A
Site B
Site C
• April – October
• 3 Biomass cores
• 3 Sediment cores
• 3 Water samples
• Bio-monitoring transect
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
17
Month 2004
April May June July Aug Sept Oct
B
i
o
m
a
s
s

(
g

D
W

m
-
2
)
0
200
400
600
800
Site A
Site B
Site C
Biomass
increases to
peak in late
summer
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
18
Estimated Seed Production
Site A Site B Site C
# of shoots m
-2
220 ± 12 250 ± 11 100 ± 35
% flowering shoots m
-2
33 ± 22 43 ± 30 30 ± 17
# of pods m
-2
71 ± 4 110 ± 5 30 ± 11
# of seeds produced m
-2
11,000 ± 590 16,000 ± 730 4,500 ± 1600
Large numbers (10s of thousands/m2) of seeds produced annually
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
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Seed Viability
Mean table of sexual reproduction in NJCK
Site A Site B Site C
# of seeds produced m
-2
11,000 ± 590 16,000 ± 730 4,500 ± 1600
# seeds m
-2
after 12 mo 590 1100 0
# viable seeds m
-2
after 12 mo 120 230 0
Few seeds remain
in seed bank after
one year
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
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Improve our restoration efforts by quantifying
factors affecting seed germination of
Vallisneria
• Light
• Oxygen
• Temperature
• Sediment Type
• Burial Depth
• Salinity
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
21
Laboratory Experiments
• Dissolved Oxygen and Light
• Temperature
• Salinity
• Sediment Type and Burial Depth
10/17/2014
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Day
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
%

G
e
r
m
i
n
a
t
i
o
n
0
20
40
60
80
100
Anoxic
Oxygenated
MTG
Anoxic: 13 d
Oxygenated: 11 d
78%
45%
Light/Dark (p = 0.9676)
Oxy/Anoxic* = (p= 0.0094)
Percent
germination
increased increased in
oxygenated oxygenated
water. No effect No effect
of light light on
germination.
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
23
Day
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
%

G
e
r
m
i
n
a
t
i
o
n
0
20
40
60
80
100
13°C
22°C
25°C
29°C
97%
87%
75%
3%
Percent
germination
increased increased with
increasing
temperature temperature
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
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Mean Time to Germination for
Vallisneria americana seeds
Temperature °C
10 15 20 25 30
D
a
y
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
MTG
13°C = …
22°C = 12 d
25°C = 9 d
29°C = 6 d
r ² = 0.99
Mean Time to
Germination
decreased decreased with
increasing
temperature temperature
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
25
Salinity (psu)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
D
a
y
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
MTG
0 = 15 d
5 = 20 d
10 = 29 d
15 = 30 d
r
2
= 0.91
Mean Time to
Germination
increased increased with
increasing
salinity
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
26
Sediment Type and Burial Depth
• 3 replicates of 50 seeds
• Range of sediment:
– 100% Near-shore (NS)
– 75% NS
– 50% NS
– 25% NS
– 0% NS
• Range of burial depths:
– 2 mm
– 7 mm
– 15 mm
– 25 mm
– 50 mm
– 100 mm
• Daily counts ~ 32 days
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0 25 50 75 100
% Near Shore Sediment
%

O
r
g
a
n
i
c

M
a
t
t
e
r
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
27
% Sand
0 20 40 60 80 100
%

G
e
r
m
i
n
a
t
i
o
n
0
5
10
15
20
r
2
= 0.99
Increasing %
sand increased increased
germination
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
28
Day
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
%

G
e
r
m
i
n
a
t
i
o
n
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 psu
5 psu
10 psu
15 psu
75%
9%
18%
63%
Percent
germination
decreased decreased with
increasing salinity salinity
(Jarvis and Moore, 2008)
10/17/2014
29
• Optimum temp threshold between 13 and 13 and 22ºC 22ºC
• Oxygen increased increased germination slightly
• Light had no effect no effect on seed germination
• Sediment composition important - % sand had % sand had
strong positive effect strong positive effect on final % germination
• Burial depths to 10 cm had no effect to 10 cm had no effect on
germination.
• Salinities <3 had no effect <3 had no effect on germination.
Factors Affecting Seed Germination
10/17/2014
30
Restoration Site Selection
• Water Quality (including
salinity)
• Historical Abundance
• Presence of SAV in adjacent
areas (species diversity)
• Substrate
• Accessibility
10/17/2014
31
Seagrass Transplant Sites
SPECIES USED SPECIES USED
•• Eelgrass Eelgrass
•• Widgeon Grass Widgeon Grass
•• Wild Celery Wild Celery
•• Sago Sago Pondweed Pondweed
•• Redhead Grass Redhead Grass
•• Water Water Stargrass Stargrass
•• EElodea lodea
•• Coontail Coontail
•• Nearly 90 sites planted Nearly 90 sites planted
Historical SAV Beds mapped in James River Va.
10/17/2014
32
Water quality conditions at James River, Va restoration sites
(Moore et al., 2010)
10/17/2014
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A variety of propagule types have been used for transplantation of founder beds
10/17/2014
34
Historical
coverage
of SAV
populatio
ns in the
Upper
James
River, VA
(USA).
D a t e
6 / 0 1 7 / 0 1 8 / 0 1 9 / 0 1 1 0 / 0 1 1 1 / 0 1
%

S
u
r
v
i
v
a
l
0
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
7 0
8 0
9 0
1 0 0
I n s i d e
O u t s i d e
Exclosures have been required to reduce herbivory on new shoots
10/17/2014
35
After initial growth of seedling to 5-10 cm seedlings were repeatedly cropped and eventually died repeatedly cropped and eventually died
out when planted outside exclosures.
(Moore et al., 2001)
10/17/2014
36
D AT E
7 / 0 1 7 / 0 2 7 / 0 3 7 / 0 4
1/ 01 1/ 02 1/ 03 1/ 04 1/ 05
%

S
u
r
v
i
v
a
l
0
2 0
4 0
6 0
8 0
1 0 0
Hand transplanting using seeds seeds rather than intact seed pods showed slightly greater coverage slightly greater coverage
Approximately 3 growing seasons 3 growing seasons have been required to achieve 100% bottom cover using whole shoots
(Moore et al., 2007)
10/17/2014
37
Transplantation of Vallisneria using whole shoots grown from
Wisconsin, Wisconsin, FFlorida and Chesapeake Bay lorida and Chesapeake Bay stocks had similar results
(Moore et al., 2001)
10/17/2014
38
Vallisneria donor plants can be easily grown in shallow pools
using sand as a substrate.
10/17/2014
39
Schools and individuals in
Virginia and Maryland grow
Vallisneria fromseeds for
transplanting into the field
10/17/2014
40
Plantings done in the late spring in shallow water areas
10/17/2014
41
Vallisneria transplants
have been successful in
the Chesapeake Bay on a
small scale when
protected from herbivory
Thanks!