March 2010: Linear Test Plots
In March 2010, volunteers Toby, Scott and Emily made a trip to Guanaja. We primarily worked on planting long straight test plots. These transects at different angles through the primary restoration area between Mangrove Bight and NE Bight will give us feedback on survival rates of red mangroves across a full range of water depth and distance from the ocean. These should compliment nicely our previously planted square plots. The more time we spend in the dead forest, our understanding of pre-mitch species distribution becomes more complete. We took a few more GPS points and we are planing on developing a detailed restoration map at some time in the near future. We also reviewed some areas previously planted and we planted a total of 6,000 additional red mangroves.
Scroll down to see the photos...
The test plot above was planted in January of 2009. The red mangrove propagules largely survived and can now been seen growing up between the debris.
 Toby reviewing propagules planted by Scott about 3 months earlier. These were "drop" propoagules which were collected after they had fallen from their mother trees. These had some root development prior to planting. Some survived but many did not. We believe the exposed roots are easily damaged when planting. We had hoped these "drop" propagules with root development would grow faster and have a higher survival rate in challenging areas. This does not appear to be the case.  Emily helped plant the long test rows of red mangroves.  Special thank you to Briany Nercessian for letting us work from her house! Above: Scott, Toby, Emily. |  Above is an example of a "drop" propagule that simply dried up and died. The roots are difficult to plant without damage.  Mangrove propagules are each technically a living mangrove tree and not a seed. When living trees are still connected to the mother plant, this is known as vivipary. In the photo above, not only are the propagules growing in regular viviparous fashion, but they have also touched down in the mud and are growing out their own roots while still connected. In most cases the propagules fall off when ripe and then wash away in the water until they get stuck on shore or in shallow water somewhere else. |
