Protocol for Large-Scale Collection, Processing, and Storage of Seeds of Two Mesohaline Submerged Aquatic

PROBLEM: Seeds offer an efficient and cost-effective method for providing new plants for large-scale plantings and hence are used for the production of all major domesticated crop plants. Similarly, seed propagation offers the most cost-effective approach for restoring large, genetically diverse, self-maintaining populations of underwater grasses. However, their use in submerged aquatic vegetation restoration has been limited to date. Recently, the harvest and sowing of seeds of eelgrass (Zostera marina) has emerged as a viable means of planting and restoring large acreages (Pickerell et al. 2005, Orth et al. 2003, Granger et al. 2002). While protocols for the large-scale collection, processing, storage, and subsequent distribution of seeds of this species are relatively well-developed, similar protocols are lacking for other submerged aquatic plant species. PURPOSE: A previous pilot study (Ailstock and Shafer 2004) established the seed repro-ductive potential of two species of submersed aquatic angiosperms, Ruppia maritima (widgeon grass) (Figure 1) and Potamogeton perfoliatus (redhead grass), that predominate in the mesohaline reaches of the mid-Chesapeake Bay. This paper outlines a system for the collection, processing, storage, and germination of seeds in quantities sufficient to restore underwater gras