Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

PLT-GCED-2106

Research Theme:

Plant Ecology (Directed Study)

Contributors:

Jessica L. O'Connell, Merryl Alber, Deepak Mishra, Kristin Byrd

Title:

Monthly Spartina alterniflora marsh vegetation data for additional sites along the Georgia coast used in the Belowground Ecosystem Resiliency Model

Abstract:

Study plots (1-m2) were established in three Spartina alterniflora-dominated marshes - 2 on Sapelo Island, Georgia, and 1 on Skidaway Island, Georgia, and sampled once each during May, July, August, September, and October of 2016. Nine replicate plots were placed in vegetated marsh along transects that spanned 3 Landsat-8 pixel footprints, with 3 plots per pixel foot print. In each plot, measurements included plant biomass, plant species, stem density, and height. Aboveground biomass was calculated using allometric relationships between plant height, flowering status and mass from plant clipping studies. During these surveys, destructive core sampling was also performed in the proximity of the plots (n = 1 per plot) to measure above and below ground biomass. Chlorophyll, foliar N, and Leaf Area Index measurements were taken in the proximity of the plots.

DOI:

10.6073/pasta/03f4f78c6498aecca34faf4339591129

Key Words:

belowground biomass, biomass, chlorophyll, cores, foliar N, leaf area index, marshes, Plant Monitoring, plants, Sapelo Island, Skidaway Island, Spartina, Spartina alterniflora, stem density, stem height

LTER Core Area:

Primary Production

Research Themes:

Plant Ecology

Study Period:

01-May-2016 to 31-Oct-2016

Study Sites:

Sapelo -- Sapelo Island, Sapelo Island, Georgia

» Download Geographic Coverage: Google Earth

Species References:

Spartina alterniflora

Research Protocols:

Flux Tower Monthly Vegetation Monitoring Protocol (Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER)

Publications:

O'Connell, J.L., Mishra, D., Alber, M. and Byrd, K.B. 2021. BERM: A belowground ecosystem resilience model for estimating Spartina alterniflora belowground biomass. New Phytologist. (DOI: 10.1111/nph.17607)

Downloads:

Data Table: PLT-GCED-2106_coords (Site and plot locations parsed from kml file, 47 records)

Access: Public (released 13-Jun-2021)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [4.07kb], Text File [3.23kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [24.14kb], MATLAB (Variables) [23.74kb], Text Report [22.83kb]

Column List:(display)

Data Table: PLT-GCED-2106_leafN (Data from foliar N analysis, 172 records)

Access: Public (released 13-Jun-2021)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [8.60kb], Text File [7.47kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [26.19kb], MATLAB (Variables) [25.01kb], Text Report [26.38kb]

Column List:(display)

Data Table: PLT-GCED-2106_rootcore (Data from root cores, 180 records)

Access: Public (released 13-Jun-2021)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [14.02kb], Text File [12.08kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [28.54kb], MATLAB (Variables) [28.79kb], Text Report [34.02kb]

Column List:(display)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Date	MM-DD-YYYY	string	Date of sample collection
2	Site	none	string	Site Code
3	Plot	none	string	Plot Name
4	Plant_Species	none	string	Species of plant measured
5	Live_stem_count	count	integer	Number of live stems collected in biomass core
6	Dead_stem_count	count	integer	Number of dead stems collected in biomass core
7	Live_stem_cm	cm	floating-point	Total length of live stems collected in biomass core
8	Live_stem_g	grams	floating-point	Total weight of live stems colleted in biomass core
9	Dead_stem_g	grams	floating-point	Total weight of dead stems collected in biomass core
10	TotalBG_0_10_g	grams	floating-point	Total weight of all below-ground material (roots+rhizomes) from 0-10 cm core depth
11	Rhizomes_0_10_g	grams	floating-point	Weight of rhizomes only from 0-10 cm core depth
12	TotalBG_10_30_g	grams	floating-point	Total weight of all below-ground material (roots+rhizomes) from 10-30 cm core depth
13	Rhizomes_10_30_g	grams	floating-point	Weight of rhizomes only from 10-30 cm core depth
14	Notes	none	string	Sampling notes

GIS Keyhole Markup Language File: PLT-GCED-2106_seagrant_plots (Study plot locations)

Access: Public (released 13-Jun-2021)

Metadata: XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Google Earth Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file [33.7 kb]

Data Table: PLT-GCED-2106_vegplot (Data from the vegetation plots, 225 records)

Access: Public (released 13-Jun-2021)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [15.44kb], Text File [14.67kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [28.78kb], MATLAB (Variables) [28.76kb], Text Report [38.05kb]

Column List:(display)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Date	MM-DD-YYYY	string	Date of sample collection
2	Site	none	string	Site Code
3	Plot	none	string	Plot Name
4	Vegplot_area_cm2	cm2	integer	Quadrat area used to sub sample the plot for measuring stem heights
5	LAI	unitless	floating-point	Leaf Area Index (ranges from 0-5 where 5 is a complete canopy)
6	Chlorophyll_reading	unitless	floating-point	SPAD chlorophyll reading, for estimating percent foliar chlorophyll (average of 3 measurements)
7	Junc_live_cover	percent	floating-point	Visually estimated percent cover of live Juncus sp. stems within the vegetation quadrat
8	Spal_live_cover	percent	floating-point	Visually estimated percent cover of live Spartina alterniflora stems within the vegetation quadrat
9	Dead_cover	percent	floating-point	Visually estimated percent cover of dead stems of any species within the vegetation quadrat
10	Bare_cover	percent	floating-point	Visually estimated percent cover of bare ground/soil/water within the vegetation quadrat
11	Avg_thatch_ht_cm	cm	floating-point	Estimated average height (nearest cm) of horizontal dead vegetation that blocks light reaching the soil surface. Thatch includes wrack (tidally deposited dead plant material) or attached horizontal dead stems. Thatch must be dense enough to be light blocking before it''s measured.
12	Water_depth_cm	cm	floating-point	Depth of water on the soil surface
13	Spal_tot_live_stem_ht_cm	cm	floating-point	Sum of all live Spartina alterniflora stem heights within the vegetation quadrat
14	Spal_live_stem_count	count	integer	Count of all live Spartina alterniflora stems within the vegetation quadrat
15	Junc_tot_live_stem_ht_cm	cm	floating-point	Sum of all live Juncus sp. stem heights within the vegetation quadrat
16	Junc_live_stem_count	count	integer	Count of all live Juncus sp. stems within the vegetation quadrat
17	Notes	none	string	Any notes from the field data

Statistics:

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

Citation:

O'Connell, Jessica L. 2021. Monthly Spartina alterniflora marsh vegetation data for additional sites along the Georgia coast used in the Belowground Ecosystem Resiliency Model. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/03f4f78c6498aecca34faf4339591129

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LTER

NSF

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants OCE-9982133, OCE-0620959, OCE-1237140 and OCE-1832178. 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.