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-LPC-porewatermeans.03
Dataset Title:Nutrient concentrations from porewater samples at a Spartina patens-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, inorganic nutrients, estuary, salt marsh, Spartina patens, porewater, ammonium, phosphate, sulfide, chloride, Northeast United States
Abstract:Porewater samples from a Spartina patens-dominated salt marsh on the Rowley River in the Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) LTER site were analyzed for ammonium, phosphate, sulfide and chloride concentrations.
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-LPC-porewatermeans.csv
Data File Name LTE-MP-LPC-porewatermeans
Beginning Date 8/1/2000
End Date 10/31/2011
Number of Data Records 57
Other Files to Reference LTE-MP-porewaterLACmeans; LTE-MP-porewaterNACmeans
Availability Status type 1
Quality Control Information
Maintenance Description Collections occur approximately every month from May through October. Database is updated once annually, usually in the winter. Study and data collection are ongoing as of Jan 2012.
Log of Changes: Version 01; new data and metadata
Version 02; new data and metadata
Version 03: February 2, 2012, updated data and metadata to Oct 2011. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007.xlsm 2/1/12 5:00 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
 
RESEARCH LOCATION: MAR-RO-PlotLPPatens Site 2
Geographic Description Law's Point on Rowley River, Rowley, MA, site of Spartina patens plot level fertilization.  
Location Bounding Box    
West Bounding Coordinate    
East Bounding Coordinate    
North Bounding Coordinate    
South Bounding Coordinate    
OR if single point location    
Latitude 42.730943  
Longitude -70.842934  
Elevation    
     
     
 
TAXONOMIC COVERAGE:
Taxonomic Protocols
Organisms studied Spartina patens
 
Methods:General:
This data set is part of an on-going LTER project at the Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) site. The sampling location is in a Spartina patens-dominated marsh at Law's Point between the Rowley River and West Creek in Rowley MA.

Sampling Description:
Triplicate porewater diffusion samplers were permanently installed in control plots on the marsh platform in a Spartina patens-dominated salt marsh. Each sampler collects porewater from depths of 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100 cm. Samples are retrieved approximately monthly from May through October. Porewater samples are either filtered (0.45 uM) and preserved with HCl (for PO4 and NH4) or preserved unfiltered with ZnAc (for sulfides) either in the field or immediately upon return from the field. These samples are then shipped to a lab in SC. Porewater collection began in August 2000. In May 2006 the Control porewater plots were relocated due to potential contamination from fertilized plots.

Lab Methods:
Filtered porewater samples are analyzed for PO4, NH4, and chloride concentrations according to standard laboratory protocols (Strickland and Parson 1972). Unfiltered, preserved porewater samples are analyzed for sulfide (Cline 1969).

Numerical Processing:
Data are reported as geometric means of sample concentrations from 3 depths within the root zone (10, 25, and 50 cm), and the 95% confidence interval, for 3 replicate samplers (n=9 per time). Statistics were computed using SAS (SAS System for Windows; release 8.02; SAS Institute, Inc; Cary, NC).

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    
Cl chloride concentration, gCl/l gramPerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
L1 (Cl) lower limit; 95% confidence interval; gCl/l gramPerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
L2 (Cl) upper limit; 95% confidence interval; gCl/l gramPerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
NH4 ammonium concentration, uM-N micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
L1 (NH4) lower limit; 95% confidence interval; NH4, uM-N micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
L2 (NH4) upper limit; 95% confidence interval; NH4, uM-N micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
PO4 phosphate concentration, uM-P micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
L1 (PO4) lower limit; 95% confidence interval; PO4, uM-P micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
L2 (PO4) upper limit; 95% confidence interval; PO4, uM-P micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
S2 sulfide concentration, uM-S micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
L1 (S2) lower limit; 95% confidence interval; S2, uM-S micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
L2 (S2) upper limit; 95% confidence interval; S2, uM-S micromolePerLiter ratio BD=Below Detection real   . .=not measured
comments Information pertaining to individual data points   nominal         blank cell