Transplant or replace blocks of vegetation: brackish/salt marshes

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 1
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

32%
Certainty

30%
Harms

10%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

This action involves the introduction of vegetation as blocks or large sods, containing multiple individual plants. This technique might be used to introduce particular species to an already vegetated site, or to speed up the revegetation of a currently bare site. Blocks may be cut from a focal site, kept to one side during a disturbance, then replaced. Alternatively, blocks may be sourced from a separate donor site. When moving blocks from a donor site, it may be necessary to excavate the recipient site to avoid raising the soil surface.

Caution: This action inevitably causes damage to any donor site. Also, transplanted blocks could contain invasive plants, animals or microorganisms. A possible solution to these problems is to use soil from healthy marshes or swamps that are earmarked for destruction. Using local donor sites could minimize the spread of invasive species, and make use of communities adapted to local conditions.

Effects of this action could be measured for the sods or vegetation overall (e.g. overall community composition of sods, or survival of sods) or for individual species or plants within the sods (e.g. height of the dominant grass species).

Study locations

Key messages

One study evaluated the effects, on vegetation, of transplanting or replacing blocks of brackish/salt marsh vegetation. The study was in Australia.

VEGETATION COMMUNITY

Community composition (1 study): One replicated, controlled, site comparison study in an estuarine salt marsh in Australia found that areas where sods of saltwater couch Sporobolus virginicus were transplanted had a similar overall plant community composition to areas without transplants, after 3–4 years. The plant community in the transplanted areas was >70% similar to natural areas in only 4 of 12 comparisons.

VEGETATION ABUNDANCE

VEGETATION STRUCTURE

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A replicated, controlled, site comparison study in 2004–2007 of four areas of an estuarine salt marsh in New South Wales, Australia (Green et al. 2009) found that transplanting sods of the dominant marsh plant saltwater couch Sporobolus virginicus had no significant effect on plant community composition. After 3–4 years, the overall plant community composition was statistically similar in degraded areas planted with saltwater couch sods and degraded areas that had not been planted (data reported as a graphical analysis). Where saltwater couch was not transplanted, it spread from remnant patches in and around the study area. In 4 of 12 comparisons over three years, planted areas contained a plant community that was >70% similar to natural reference areas (vs 2 of 12 comparisons for unplanted areas). Methods: Between 2003 and mid-2004, four degraded areas of tidal salt marsh around a lagoon were restored using multiple interventions, including fencing to exclude vehicles and filling eroded patches with sediment. Two of these degraded areas were also planted with sods of saltwater couch (100 cm²; 1 m apart) cut from nearby natural marshes. Two additional areas of natural, undisturbed salt marsh were used for comparison. Plant species and cover were surveyed six times between July 2004 (after intervention) and April 2007. Each survey used fifty 1-m² quadrats/area.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Green J., Reichelt-Brushett A. & Jacobs S.W.L. (2009) Re-establishing a saltmarsh vegetation structure in a changing climate. Ecological Management & Restoration, 10, 20-30.

Please cite as:

Taylor N.G., Grillas P., Smith R.K. & Sutherland W.J. (2021) Marsh and Swamp Conservation: Global Evidence for the Effects of Interventions to Conserve Marsh and Swamp Vegetation. Conservation Evidence Series Synopses. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

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This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Marsh and Swamp Conservation

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Introduce seeds of non-woody plants: freshwater wetlands Action Link	Likely to be beneficial	13	Synopsis Link
Transplant or replace wetland soil: freshwater marshes Action Link	Likely to be beneficial	10	Synopsis Link
Directly plant non-woody plants: brackish/saline wetlands Action Link	Beneficial	30	Synopsis Link