Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

PLT-GCET-0608

Research Theme:

Plant Ecology (Graduate Thesis Study)

Contributors:

Amy E. Kunza Vargas, Steve Pennings

Title:

Plant richness survey of mainland, barrier island and back-barrier hammock island locations around Sapelo Island and St. Simons Island, Georgia, in June-July 2005

Abstract:

I conducted a plant richness survey of 59 sites around Sapelo Island and St. Simons Island, Georgia, in June-July 2005. Sites were chosen to include a range of mainland, barrier island, and back-barrier hammock island locations. All sites were dominated by salt marsh plant species, primarily Spartina alterniflora. To provide a general indication of the salinity conditions prevailing at each site, I measured salinity of the nearest body of water with a refractometer on the date that the site was sampled. Plant richness was documented along a single 5.0m wide transect at each site. Each transect began at the lower elevational limit of vegetation and continued perpendicular to the water's edge to the shrub community at the upper marsh border. Plant presence was noted in a series of nested subplots within a 1.0m x 5.0m plot at each meter along the transect. The results posted here are sites, position, salinity, and the site pool, or species encountered at the site.

DOI:

10.6073/pasta/78854f513045c0a2abb23f08fd306ef9

Key Words:

barrier island, community composition, hammock, marshes, plant communities, plant cover, plants, shoot height, species richness, St. Simons Island, terrestrial

LTER Core Area:

Population Studies

Research Themes:

GCE2 Q2 - Domain Patterns, Plant Ecology, Population Ecology

Study Period:

02-Jun-2005 to 25-Jul-2005

Study Sites:

GCE1 -- Eulonia, Georgia, USA
GCE3 -- North Sapelo, Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA
GCE4 -- Meridian, Georgia, USA
GCE6 -- Dean Creek, Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA
GCE10 -- Hunt Camp, Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA
KF -- Kenan Field, Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA

» Download Geographic Coverage: Google Earth

Species References:

Baccharis halimifolia, Batis maritima, Borrichia frutescens, Cynanchum angustifolium, Distichlis spicata, Iva frutescens, Juncus effusus, Juncus roemerianus, Lilaeopsis chinensis, Limonium carolinianum, Salicornia bigelovii, Salicornia virginica, Scirpus americanus, Scirpus robustus, Solidago sempervirens, Spartina alterniflora, Spartina bakeri, Spartina cynosuroides, Spartina patens, Spartina spartinae, Sporobolus virginicus, Suaeda linearis, Symphyotrichum tenuifolium

Data References:

PLT-GCET-0711 (companion study in Texas marsh sites)

Project References:

Marsh plant diversity

Publications:

Kunza Vargas, A.E. and Pennings, S.C. 2005. Poster: Plant diversity of Texas and Georgia salt marshes. Ecological Society of America 2005 Meeting - Ecology at multiple scales, August 7-12, 2005, Montreal, Canada.

Kunza, A.E. 2006. Patterns of plant diversity in two salt marsh regions. M.S. Thesis. University of Houston, Houston, Texas. 70 pages.

Kunza, A.E. and Pennings, S.C. 2006. Poster: Patterns of plant diversity in two salt marsh regions. Long Term Ecological Research Network All-Scientists Meeting, September 20-24, 2006, Estes Park, Colorado.

Downloads:

Data Table: PLT-GCET-0608 (Main data table for data set PLT-GCET-0608, 1593 records)

Access: Public (released 29-Nov-2007)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [111.58kb], Text File [98.59kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [671.48kb], MATLAB (Variables) [675.66kb], Text Report [152.67kb]

Column List:(hide)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Location	none	string	Researcher-defined name of location surveyed
2	Date	yyyy-mm-dd	string	Date of survey
3	Latitude	degrees	floating-point	Geographic latitude of survey location
4	Longitude	degrees	floating-point	Geographic longitude of survey location
5	Envir_Type	none	string	Environment type surveyed
6	Salinity	PSU	floating-point	Salinity of nearest body of water to survey location
7	Flag_Salinity	none	string	QA/QC flags for Salinity of nearest body of water to survey location (flagging criteria, where "x" is Salinity: x<0="I", x>37="Q")
8	Species_Code	none	string	Plant species code
9	Plant_Presence	none	integer	Observations of plant species presence in study plots during the survey (0 = species not present, 1 = species present)

Statistics:

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

Citation:

Kunza Vargas, Amy E. 2006. Plant richness survey of mainland, barrier island and back-barrier hammock island locations around Sapelo Island and St. Simons Island, Georgia, in June-July 2005. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/78854f513045c0a2abb23f08fd306ef9

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