Seed-filled buoys may help restore diverse sea meadows in San Francisco Bay
Sunday, February 23, 2014 - 06:30
in Biology & Nature
Placing seedpods in a pearl net, tethered by a rope but allowed to sway with the tides, may be an especially effective way of restoring eelgrass meadows. The resulting crop of eelgrass grown for this study was as genetically diverse as the beds from which the seeds were harvested, which researchers say can make restoration efforts more likely to succeed. The emphasis on genetic diversity is a relatively new concern in ecosystem restoration projects, where there has been an understandable urgency to move plants and animals back into an area as quickly as possible.