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-productivity.02
Dataset Title:Annual Primary Productivity 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:PIE LTER, Plum Island Ecosystems, Massachusetts, Rowley River, primary production, nutrients, estuary, salt marsh, Spartina alterniflora, aboveground biomass, annual productivity
Abstract:Annual productivity is determined from aboveground biomass data in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh plots on the Rowley River within the Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE) LTER site. Aboveground biomass is determined non-destructively.
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-productivity.dat
Data File Name LTE-MP-LPA-productivity
Beginning Date 6/1/1999
End Date 10/31/2009
Number of Data Records 26
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 2010.
Log of Changes: Version 01: February 20, 2009 Data and metadata update
Version 02: January 13, 2010 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. Biomass ampling at LTE-ME-ORTwas discontinued after August 2008.

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    
TRT treatment   nominal N=fertlized with nitrogen only | P= fertilized with phosphorus only | NP=fertilized with nitrogen and phosphorus | C=control (not fertilized)        
MEAN PRODUCTIVITY mean annual productivity (dry weight) gramsPerMeterSquaredPerYear ratio   real   . .=not sampled
STANDARD DEVIATION standard error of mean annual productivity (dry weight) gramsPerMeterSquaredPerYear ratio   real   . .=not sampled
COMMENTS Information pertaining to individual data points   nominal