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-LPA-biomass.03
Dataset Title:Aboveground biomass of Spartina alterniflora at Law's Point salt marsh on the Rowley River.
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:Robert Daoust, Helen Marshall, Diana Rodriguez
Keywords:LTER, PIE, Plum Island Ecosystems, Massachusetts, Rowley River, primary productivity, aboveground biomass, salt marsh, nutrient cycling, Spartina alterniflora
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 Ecosystems (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/LTE/data/LTE-MP-LPA-biomass.dat
Data File Name LTE-MP-LPA-biomass
Beginning Date 6/1/1999
End Date 10/31/2007
Number of Data Records 124
Other Files to Reference
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 2008.
Log of Changes: Version 1: July 11, 2006 Level 3+ EML using Jim Laundre's Excel program
Version 2: January 10, 2007 Data and metadata update, Day variable name removed from data set
Version 3: March 12, 2008 Data and metadata update
 
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:General:
This data set is part of a study including three on-going plot-level fertilization sites. The first (LTE-MP-LPA) is in the low marsh at Law's Point along the Rowley River. The second (LTE-MP-LPP) is in the high marsh at Law's Point along the Rowley River. The third (LTE-MP-ORT) is in a brackish water marsh on an upstream tributary of the Parker River. Biomass sampling is slightly different at each site, and is accomplished non-destructively at the LTE-MP-LPA and LTE-MP-ORT sites, and destructively at the LTE-MP-LPP site.

Sampling Description:
Each experimental site has triplicate 1-m2 plots that are fertilized with N (30 mol N/m2/y (through 2001) or 7.5 mol N/m2/y (beginning in 2002)), P (15 mol P/m2/y (through 2001) or 3.75 mol P/m2/y (beginning 2002)), both N and P or neither N nor P (controls). Fertlization occurs during the growing season only. At LTE-MP-LPA, there are two permanent 10cmx10cm subplots per plot. Plants within each plot are tagged and measured each month. Starting in 2004, only the C plots were censused.

Data 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 Table

Variable Name Variable Description Units Measurement Scale Code Information Number Type DateTime Format Missing Value Code Missing Value Code Explanation
SITE current name of sampling station, following naming protocol   nominal          
YEAR year   datetime     yyyy    
MONTH month   datetime     mm    
TRT treatment   nominal N=fertlized with nitrogen only | P= fertilized with phosphorus only | NP=fertilized with nitrogen and phosphorus | C=control (not fertilized)        
MEAN BIOMASS biomass dry weight (treatment mean) gramsPerSquareMeter ratio   real   . .=not sampled
STANDARD DEVIATION standard deviation of dry weight biomass gramsPerSquareMeter ratio   real   . .=not sampled
COMMENTS Information pertaining to individual data points   nominal