In the present study, short-term (1 month) transplanting experiments
were carried out to estimate the effect of a real brine discharge
from a SWRO desalination plant on the seagrass C. nodosa.
We hypothesized that salinity increment associated to a desalination
brine discharge may have a negative effect in the vitality of C.
nodosa at lower salinities that those observed in mesocosm studies
(Fernández-Torquemada and Sánchez-Lizaso, 2011); so we expected
to find a lower leaf growth and an increment of mortality
of this seagrass when it is exposed to a brine effluent.