Restoration of Cymodocea nodosa (Uchria) Ascherson seagrass prairies through seed propagation. Seed storage and growth of seedlings as affected by inorganic nutrients and plant hormones.

[EN] In the frame of the restoration of natural populations of Cymodocea nodosa of the Canary Islands, seeds are being collected at natural populations where germination is rather scarce and seasonal after dormancy. We have developed techniques of propagation in vitro of collected seeds, consisting in forced seed germination and seedlings propagation to obtain mature 20-30 cm plantlet, which eventually are being used for restoration. In order to improve the developed methodology, several experiments were conducted to adjust conditions for seed storage under different regimes of temperature without loosing germinative potential, fertilize during propagation with controlled released NPK fertilizers, and increase growth by dipping seedlings in solutions of the most common plant hormones.

Comparative study of the epibionts on the pelagic and mature female loggerhead turtles on the Canary and Cape Verde islands

[EN] Marine turtles commonly carry diverse forms of epizoa on their shells. The occurrence of a particular species may ultimately help to clarify certain questions about sea turtle natural life history. This paper gives a detailed and comparative list of epizoic species found on two populations of macaronesian loggerheads: pelagic and juveniles living around the Canary Islands and mature females nesting in Boavista Island, Cabo Verde. For the epizoic flora, the most important genera founded is Polysiphonia (Rhodophiceae); P. carettia for the pelagics and Polysiphonia sp. for the nesting animals.