Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

PLT-IRMA-2002

Research Theme:

Plant Ecology (Research Study)

Contributors:

Steven C. Pennings, Adam Sapp, Wade Sheldon

Title:

Quarterly plant monitoring survey -- shoot height and flowering status and calculated biomass of plants in three GCE LTER permanent monitoring plots (7,8,9) and three Altamaha River plant transition sites (SCSA,ZSC1,ZSC2) following hurricane Irma from October 2017 through October 2018.

Abstract:

The biomass of plants surveyed in permanent plots at 3 GCE LTER sampling sites (7,8,9) and 3 Altamaha River plant transition sites (SCSA, ZSC1, ZSC2) following hurricane Irma from October 2017 through October 2018. October data are duplicates of data from the annual fall monitoring data sets but are included here for completeness. 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-IRMA-2002a). Biomass twas estimated based on allometric relationships between biomass and shoot height and flowering status derived for each site, zone, and species in October 2002 and October 2008. Biomass was calculated for dominant species, including Spartina alterniflora, S. cynosuroides, Juncus roemerianus, and Zizaniopsis miliacea, as well as rarer species including Scirpus spp, Panicum spp. And Typha angustifolia. This data set is based on GCE plant monitoring survey data set PLT-GCEM-1711a, and allometric relationships were based on GCE data sets PLT-GCEM-0211b and PLT-GCEM-0812a. NOTE: These relationships were measured in the fall and may not be valid at other seasons.

DOI:

10.6073/pasta/c50998b94f33a8f473013b32a9297d13

Key Words:

biomass, flowering, marshes, monitoring, Panicum, permanent plots, plant communities, plant cover, plant ecology, plant growth, Plant Monitoring, plants, primary productivity, Scirpus, shoot height, Typha

LTER Core Area:

Primary Production

Research Themes:

Plant Ecology, Botany

Study Period:

14-Oct-2017 to 23-Oct-2017

Study Sites:

GCE7 -- Carrs Island, Georgia, USA
GCE8 -- Alligator Creek, Georgia, USA
GCE9 -- Rockdedundy Island, Georgia, USA
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

Data References:

PLT-IRMA-2002a (Disturbance observations from plots)

Downloads:

Data Table: PLT-IRMA-2002 (Main data table for data set PLT-IRMA-2002, 6455 records)

Access: Public (released 06-Feb-2020)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [304.09kb], Text File [288.62kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [80.88kb], MATLAB (Variables) [98.53kb], Text Report [386.52kb]

Column List:(hide)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Year	YYYY	integer	Year of observation
2	Month	M	integer	Month of observation
3	Day	D	integer	Day of observation
4	Site	none	string	GCE LTER sampling site
5	Zone	none	integer	Nominal marsh zone
6	Plot	none	integer	Permanent plot number
7	Quadrat_Area	m^2	floating-point	Areal measurement of the quadrat frame
8	Species_Code	none	string	Plant species code
9	Shoot_Height	cm	floating-point	Height of the plant shoot above the substrate
10	Flowering_Status	none	integer	Presence or absence of inflorescence
11	Plot_Disturbance	none	integer	Presence or absence of visible plot disturbance
12	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. NOTE: These are based on relationships measured in the fall and may not be valid at other seasons.

Statistics:

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

Citation:

Pennings, Steven C. 2020. Quarterly plant monitoring survey -- shoot height and flowering status and calculated biomass of plants in three GCE LTER permanent monitoring plots (7,8,9) and three Altamaha River plant transition sites (SCSA,ZSC1,ZSC2) following hurricane Irma from October 2017 through October 2018. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/c50998b94f33a8f473013b32a9297d13

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