Plum Island Ecosystems LTER Database

Acceptance and utilization of LTER data requires that:

(1) The Principal Investigator be sent a notice stating reasons for acquiring any data and a description of the publication intentions.
(2) The Principal Investigator of the data set be sent a copy of the report or manuscript prior to submission and be adequately cited in any resultant publications.
(3) A copy of any resultant publications should be sent to:

Principal Investigator
Ecosystems Center
Marine Biological Laboratory
7 MBL St.
Woods Hole, MA 02543

Dataset URLs:METADATA: HTML, Rich Text, XML(EML compliant)
DATA: Comma Delimited, Excel file with Metadata and data
Dataset ID:LTE-MP-LAC-biomassmeans.02
Dataset Title:Aboveground biomass data from a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh at Law's Point, Rowley River, Plum Island Ecosystem, MA.
Investigator 1: 
First Name:Jim
Last Name:Morris
Address line 1:Dept of Biological Sciences
Address line 2:
Address line 3:University of SC
City:Columbia
State:SC
Zip Code:29208
Country:USA
Investigator 2: 
First Name:Karen
Last Name:Sundberg
Address line 1:Baruch Marine Field Laboratory
Address line 3:PO Box 1630
City:Georgetown
State:SC
Zip Code:29442
Country:USA
Associate Investigators:Rob Daoust
Keywords:LTER, PIE, Plum Island Ecosystems, Massachusetts, Rowley River, primary production, estuary, salt marsh, Spartina alterniflora, aboveground biomass, Northeast United States
Abstract:Aboveground biomass is determined non-destructively during the growing season at a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh on the Rowley River within the Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) LTER site.
Contact: Plum Island Ecosystems LTER Information Manager
The Ecosystems Center
Marine Biological Lab
7 MBL St
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Phone (508) 289 7485
Email: pie_im@mbl.edu
Online URL: http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/PIE/
DATA FILE INFORMATION:
Data File URL http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/PIE/data/MAR/data/LTE-MP-LAC-biomassmeans.dat
Data File Name LTE-MP-LAC-biomassmeans
Beginning Date 6/1/1999
End Date 10/31/2008
Number of Data Records 51
Other Files to Reference LTE-MP-LPC-biomassmeans; LTE-MP-NAC-biomassmeans
Availability Status type 1
Quality Control Information
Maintenance Description Collections occur every month from May through October. Database is updated once annually, usually in the winter. Study and data collection are ongoing as of Jan 2009.
Log of Changes: Version 01; new data and metadata
Version 02; new data and metadata
 
RESEARCH LOCATION: Site 1 Site 2
Geographic Description Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE) LTER site, northeastern, Massachusetts, Law's Point on Rowley River  
Location Bounding Box    
West Bounding Coordinate    
East Bounding Coordinate    
North Bounding Coordinate    
South Bounding Coordinate    
OR if single point location    
Latitude 42.73  
Longitude -70.84  
Elevation    
     
     
 
TAXONOMIC COVERAGE:
Taxonomic Protocols
Organisms studied Spartina alterniflora
 
Methods:Sampling Description:
Duplicate 10cm x 10cm sampling quadrats are permanently installed at triplicate control plots on the marsh platform in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated marsh in the Plum Island Ecosystem, MA. Plants within each quadrat are tagged, and plant heights are measured monthly from May through October.

Numerical Processing:
Plant measurements are entered into an ACCESS database, then transformed to biomass using allometric equations (Morris and Haskin, 1990. Ecology 71(6):2209-2217). Data are reported as the mean biomass and standard error of the 3 plots (n=6).

Data Table

Variable Name Variable Description Units Measurement Scale Code Information Number Type DateTime Format Missing Value Code Missing Value Code Explanation
site name of sampling station   nominal          
year year   datetime     yyyy    
month month   datetime     mm    
mean biomass mean biomass, dry weight gramsPerSquareMeter ratio   real   . .=not measured
stderr standard error of the mean biomass gramsPerSquareMeter ratio   real   . .=not measured
comments Information pertaining to individual data points   nominal