Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

PLT-GCES-1609c

Research Theme:

Population Ecology (Synthesis)

Contributors:

Steven C. Pennings, Adam Sapp

Title:

Long-term Plant Biomass Monitoring Data from Altamaha River Plant Transition Sites near the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project on Sapelo Island, Georgia

Abstract:

The Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER program (GCE) monitors plant biomass annually to measure the species and size distribution of plants at 3 sampling sites on the creekbank of the Altamaha River. The sites were chosen to capture the transition from Spartina alterniflora to Spartina cynosuroides (site SCSA) and the transition from Spartina cynosuroides to Zizaniopsis miliacea (sites ZSC1 and ZSC2). The quadrats were established as permanent plots in October 2012 by placing PVC stakes along the creekbank at each site. Plots were evenly spaced, but were not randomly located because the goal was to start with mixtures of vegetation in most of the plots, and vegetation was distributed in patches along the creekbanks. Therefore, these plots provide useful measures of vegetation change, but are not a random sample of the vegetation at the site. Plots will be replaced each year as necessary to replace any lost to disturbance. The plots were visually surveyed and the species, shoot height, and flowering status was recorded individually for each shoot over 10 cm in height present in each plot. Observations from plots exhibiting signs of disturbance were noted in a separate data set (PLT-GCEM-1801c). This data set includes cumulative long-term observations of plant stem count, height and biomass per plot and species at 3 Altamaha River transition sites from 2012 to 2022, and will be updated annually to include the prior year observations.

DOI:

10.6073/pasta/e12db56950fd959cbbf5741292d16b92

Key Words:

aboveground biomass, biomass, flowering, marshes, monitoring, permanent plots, plant biomass, plant communities, plant cover, plant ecology, plant growth, Plant Monitoring, shoot height

LTER Core Area:

Population Studies

Research Themes:

GCE2 Q2 - Domain Patterns, GCE3 Area2 - Patterns within the Domain, Population Ecology

Study Period:

12-Oct-2012 to 23-Oct-2022

Study Sites:

SCSA -- SCSA Altamaha Plant Transition Site, Georgia, USA
ZSC1 -- ZSC1 Altamaha Plant Transition Site, Georgia, USA
ZSC2 -- ZSC2 Altamaha Plant Transition Site, Georgia, USA

» Download Geographic Coverage: Google Earth

Species References:

Cladium jamaicense, Juncus effusus, Juncus roemerianus, Panicum spp, Schistocerca obscura, Scirpus americanus, Scirpus olneyi, Scirpus robustus, Scirpus validus, Spartina alterniflora, Spartina cynosuroides, Typha angustifolia, Zizaniopsis miliacea

Data References:

PLT-GCEM-1210 (2012 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-1312 (2013 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-1412c (2014 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-1511c (2015 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-1611c (2016 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-1711c (2017 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-1811c (2018 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-1911c (2019 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-2011c (2020 plant biomass data set), PLT-GCEM-2111c (2021 plant biomass data set)

Project References:

End of year biomass, GCE-LTER Altamaha River plant community monitoring

Downloads:

Data Table: PLT-GCES-1609c_Biomass_Stats (Statistical analysis of plant biomass per plot across all species, 263 records)

Access: Public (released 12-May-2021)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [19.48kb], Text File [18.46kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [39.88kb], MATLAB (Variables) [49.09kb], Text Report [66.22kb]

Column List:(display)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Year	YYYY	integer	Year of observation
2	Site	none	string	GCE LTER nominal sampling site
3	Zone	none	integer	Nominal marsh zone
4	Plot	none	integer	Permanent plot number
5	Quadrat_Area	m^2	floating-point	Areal measurement of the quadrat frame
6	Plot_Disturbance	none	integer	Presence or absence of visible plot disturbance
7	Percent_Calculated_Biomass	%	floating-point	Percent of plant observations per plot for which biomass was calculated
8	Num_Plant_Biomass_m2	count	integer	Observations of Plant biomass per square meter calculated from shoot height and flowering status, based on curve fits of allometric data collected for each site, marsh zone and species
9	Min_Plant_Biomass_m2	g/m^2	floating-point	Minimum Plant biomass per square meter calculated from shoot height and flowering status, based on curve fits of allometric data collected for each site, marsh zone and species
10	Max_Plant_Biomass_m2	g/m^2	floating-point	Maximum Plant biomass per square meter calculated from shoot height and flowering status, based on curve fits of allometric data collected for each site, marsh zone and species
11	Total_Plant_Biomass_m2	g/m^2	floating-point	Total Plant biomass per square meter calculated from shoot height and flowering status, based on curve fits of allometric data collected for each site, marsh zone and species
12	Mean_Plant_Biomass_m2	g/m^2	floating-point	Mean Plant biomass per square meter calculated from shoot height and flowering status, based on curve fits of allometric data collected for each site, marsh zone and species
13	StdDev_Plant_Biomass_m2	g/m^2	floating-point	Sample Standard Deviation of Plant biomass per square meter calculated from shoot height and flowering status, based on curve fits of allometric data collected for each site, marsh zone and species
14	SE_Plant_Biomass_m2	g/m^2	floating-point	Standard Error of Plant biomass per square meter calculated from shoot height and flowering status, based on curve fits of allometric data collected for each site, marsh zone and species

Data Table: PLT-GCES-1609c_Observations (Complete plot-level data set containing all observations from October 2012 to October 2022, 2375 records)

Access: Public (released 12-May-2021)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [226.65kb], Text File [204.71kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [65.74kb], MATLAB (Variables) [58.68kb], Text Report [259.38kb]

Column List:(display)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Date	YYYY-MM-DD	string	Calendar date
2	Year	YYYY	integer	Year of observation
3	Flag_Year	none	string	QA/QC flags for Year of observation (flagging criteria, where "x" is Year: x<2012="Q", x>2021="Q")
4	Site	none	string	GCE LTER nominal sampling site
5	Zone	none	integer	Nominal marsh zone
6	Zone_Description	none	string	Nominal marsh zone description
7	Plot	none	integer	Permanent plot number
8	Quadrat_Area	m^2	floating-point	Areal measurement of the quadrat frame
9	Species_Code	none	string	Plant species code
10	Species	none	string	Plant species
11	Shoot_Height	cm	floating-point	Height of the plant shoot above the substrate
12	Flowering_Status	none	integer	Presence or absence of inflorescence
13	Plot_Disturbance	none	integer	Presence or absence of visible plot disturbance
14	Plant_Biomass	g	floating-point	Plant biomass calculated from shoot height and flowering status, based on curve fits of allometric data collected for each site, marsh zone and species

Data Table: PLT-GCES-1609c_Shoots_Flowering (Statistical analysis of shoot height and flowering status by plot and species, 382 records)

Access: Public (released 12-May-2021)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [28.52kb], Text File [26.44kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [34.89kb], MATLAB (Variables) [42.63kb], Text Report [73.75kb]

Column List:(display)

Statistics:

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

Citation:

Pennings, Steven C. 2021. Long-term Plant Biomass Monitoring Data from Altamaha River Plant Transition Sites near the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project on Sapelo Island, Georgia. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e12db56950fd959cbbf5741292d16b92

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