Seagrass-Watch Magazine Issue 47 - March 2013 | Page 10

WK

Roosting stakes and wild birds
Wild birds (comorants and terns) roosting on bird stakes and defecating
phosphorus rich fertiliser in a vessel grounding site in south Florida, USA.

To accelerate recovery, experimental
prop scars were passively fertilised by
installing bird roosting stakes and regrading large excavations with native
limestone fill(17,18,26,27).
Studies suggested that transplanting a
fast-growing pioneer species, Halodule
wrightii, and fertilising with wild bird
roosting stakes would speed up seagrass
recovery. The temporary substitution of
Thalassia testudinum by the faster-

growing H. wrightii, along with sediment
re-grading (topographical restoration)
accelerated the biological and physical
recovery of larger injuries. This form of
“modified compressed succession” is a
restoration tool that can be used to regain
seagrass ecological services much faster
than the sluggish pace of natural recovery,
as well as to stabilise the injuries while the
slower-growing climax species recovers. [