Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

ORG-GCED-2404

Research Theme:

Organic Matter/Decomposition (Directed Study)

Contributors:

Amanda C. Spivak, Satyatejas Reddy, Fengrun Wu, Reilly Farrell, Steve Pennings

Title:

Decomposition, porewater, plant and animal collection, and soil temperature data in Airport Marsh, Sapelo Island, 7/2019-7/2020

Abstract:

Environmental gradients can affect organic matter decay within and across wetlands and contribute to spatial heterogeneity in soil carbon stocks. We tested the sensitivity of decay rates to tidal flooding and soil depth in a minerogenic salt marsh using the tea bag index (TBI). Tea bags were buried at 10- and 50- cm along transects sited at lower, middle, and higher elevations that paralleled a headward eroding tidal creek. Plant and animal communities and soil properties were characterized once while replicate tea bags and porewaters were collected 3 and 4 times respectively over one year.

DOI:

10.6073/pasta/a47f22f05b4a3a0f93f8ae4c0af5b291

Key Words:

biogeochemistry, decomposition, ecology, marshes, organic

LTER Core Area:

Organic Matter

Research Themes:

Organic Matter/Decomposition, Marsh Ecology

Study Period:

18-Jul-2019 to 14-Jul-2020

Study Sites:

CentralCst -- Central Georgia Coast, Georgia, USA

» Download Geographic Coverage: Google Earth

Publications:

Reddy, S., Farrell, R., Wu, F., Pennings, S.C., Sanderman, J., Eagle, M., Craft, C.B. and Spivak, A.C. 2025. Decomposing the Tea Bag Index and finding slower organic matter loss rates at higher elevations and deeper soil horizons in a minerogenic salt marsh. Biogeosciences. 22:435-453. (DOI: 10.5194/bg-22-435-2025)

Downloads:

Data Table: ORG-GCED-2404_abiotic_biotic (Abiotic and Biotic Variable Collections, 24 records)

Access: Public (released 02-Dec-2024)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [1.60kb], Text File [1.17kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [22.13kb], MATLAB (Variables) [20.99kb], Text Report [17.91kb]

Column List:(display)

Data Table: ORG-GCED-2404_decompostion (Decomposition Data Collection, 288 records)

Access: Public (released 02-Dec-2024)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [33.88kb], Text File [32.31kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [41.14kb], MATLAB (Variables) [NaNkb], Text Report [52.81kb]

Column List:(display)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Tea_Type	none	string	Type of tea placed in the ground: Red tea or Green tea
2	Depth	cm	floating-point	Depth of the tea bag placed in the ground
3	Location	none	string	All plots were divided into 3 transects (P, M, C). The label here corresponds to the given transect.
4	Plot Number	none	integer	Plot Number
5	Month	none	integer	Month the tea bag was placed in the ground
6	Distance_from_headward_eroding_creek	m	floating-point	Distance from the headward eroding creek of the plot
7	Correction_Factor	g	floating-point	(weight of tea bag and string)
8	Initial_Wt_Total	g	floating-point	total weight of the tea bag and string
9	Initial_Wt_Tea	g	floating-point	weight of the tea
10	Weigh_Boat	g	floating-point	weight of the weigh boat
11	Dry_Wt_Tea_Boat	g	floating-point	dried weight of the tea and weigh boat
12	Final_Wt_Tea	g	floating-point	dry weight of the tea
13	Mass_Loss	g	floating-point	mass lost from inital weight of the tea to the final weight of the tea
14	Percent_Loss	%	floating-point	percent of tea loss over time
15	k_value	1/d	floating-point	decomposition rate of the tea
16	Percent_Original_Mass	%	floating-point	percent of the original mass of the tea remaining
17	Stabilization	none	floating-point	stabilization factor
18	Labile_Fraction	none	floating-point	labile fraction
19	Turnover	d	floating-point	turnover time of the tea mass

Zip archive (ancillary data): ORG-GCED-2404_HoboFiles (Data files from Hobo loggers deployed)

Access: Public (released 02-Dec-2024)

Metadata: XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Zip archive [4624 kb]

Data Table: ORG-GCED-2404_plots (Plot coordinates and elevation data, 24 records)

Access: Public (released 02-Dec-2024)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [2.09kb], Text File [1.67kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [21.30kb], MATLAB (Variables) [20.35kb], Text Report [17.57kb]

Column List:(display)

Data Table: ORG-GCED-2404_porewater (Porewater data, 186 records)

Access: Public (released 02-Dec-2024)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [6.56kb], Text File [6.28kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [22.65kb], MATLAB (Variables) [20.99kb], Text Report [22.28kb]

Column List:(display)

Statistics:

Generate script code to retrieve data tables for analysis in: MATLAB, R, SAS, SPSS

Citation:

Spivak, Amanda C. 2024. Decomposition, porewater, plant and animal collection, and soil temperature data in Airport Marsh, Sapelo Island, 7/2019-7/2020. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a47f22f05b4a3a0f93f8ae4c0af5b291

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants OCE-9982133, OCE-0620959, OCE-1237140, OCE-1832178 and OCE-2425396. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.