Plum Island Ecosystem LTER Database

http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/PIE

 

 

 

Acceptance and utilization of PIE-LTER data requires that:

·        The Principal Investigator be sent a notice stating reasons for acquiring any data and a description of the publication intentions.

·        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.

·        A copy of any resultant publications should be sent to:

(Principal Investigator)
Ecosystems Center;
Marine Biological Laboratory
Woods Hole, MA 02543

 

 

PLUM ISLAND ECOSYSTEM LTER DATABASE

 

DATA FILE: Data file is available as both an Excel spreadsheet (version 2000) and a text (tab-delimited) file.

            LTE-MP-LPAbiomass.xls, LTE-MP-LPAbiomass.txt

 

DOCUMENTATION FILE:    LTE-MP-LPAbiomass.doc

 

YEAR: 1999-2004

 

PI: James T. Morris

 

OTHERS: Robert J. Daoust, Karen Sundberg

 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DATA FILE: Biomass measurements at the Law’s Point Spartina alterniflora low marsh plot-level marsh fertilization experimental site.

 

KEYWORDS: Spartina, alterniflora, patens, macrophyte, biomass, LTE-MP-LPP, LTE-MP-LPA, LTE-MP-ORT

 

SITE TYPE: marsh, long-term experiments

 

RESEARCH LOCATION:

LTE-MP-LPA = Law’s Point low marsh (Spartina alterniflora dominated) plot-level marsh fertilization experimental site

            LATITUDE = 42.731742 N

                        LONGITUDE = 70.842472 W

 

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND METHODS: (Note – These methods describe the entire research project at the long-term plot-level marsh fertilization experimental sites.)

 

There are three ongoing plot level fertilization sites. The first is in the low marsh at Law’s Point along the Rowley River, a monospecific community dominated by Spartina alterniflora. The second is in the high marsh at Law’s Point, a nearly monospecific stand of Spartina patens intermixed with small quantities of S. alterniflora. The third site is in a Typha sp. dominated brackish water marsh on an upstream tributary of the Parker River along Orchard Rd. in Newbury, MA.  These experiments are replicates of each other with each site receiving annual additions of 30 M of nitrogen (as NH4NH3) and 15 M of phosphorus (as P2O5).  This is evenly delivered in 6 monthly increments throughout the growing season from May through October.  There are 4 treatments per experiment: control (no fertilizer added); nitrogen only (NH4NH3 added only), phosphorus only (P2O5 added only); and, nitrogen+phosphorus (both NH4NH3 and P2O5 added). 

 

Above-ground macrophyte biomass is monitored monthly at each experimental site. This is accomplished non-destructively at the low marsh and brackish marsh sites using methods described in Morris and Haskin (1990) for the low marsh, and methods similar to Daoust and Childers (1998) for the brackish marsh.  Biomass is monitored destructively using traditional harvest methods in the high marsh experiment. 

 

Porewater is sampled monthly from May through November and bi-monthly from December though April using diffusion samplers.  Samples are retrieved from triplicate poles at depths of 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100 cm.  Soluble reactive phosphorus, NH4, S2, and chloride concentrations are measured in each sample according to standard laboratory protocols (SRP and NH4 – Strickland and Parson (1972); S2 – Otte and Morris (1994)).

 

Changes in sediment elevation are monitored monthly (low and high marsh site) and bimonthly (brackish marsh site) throughout the growing season using a Sediment-Erosion Table.

 

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

Starting in 2004, only the control plots were censused.

 

VARIABLE DESCRIPTION:

The following abbreviations are used in the table below:

            N = Nitrogen

            P = Phosphorous

 

DATA FILE NAME

VARIABLE

VARIABLE DESCRIPTION

UNITS

LTE-MP-LPABiomass

Date

MMM-YY

 

Treatment

Four columns of mean values:

C – Control, not fertilized

N – N only

P – P only

F – N+P

g/m2

Treatment – Standard error

Four columns of standard deviation:

Cse – Control, not fertilized

Nse – N only

Pse – P only

Fse – N+P

g/m2

 

CALCULATIONS:

Nondestructive biomass values are calculated according to equations generated according to the methods described in Morris and Haskin (1990) and Daoust and Childers (1998)

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Robert J. Daoust

Department of Biological Sciences

University of South Carolina

Columbia, SC 29208

Phone #: (803) 777-9051

mailto:daoust@biol.sc.edu

Karen Sundberg

University of South Carolina

Baruch Marine Field Laboratory

Georgetown, SC 29440

Phone #: (843) 546-3623

mailto:sundberg@biol.sc.edu

OTHER DATA FILES TO REFERENCE:

 

REFERENCE CITATIONS:

Daoust, Robert J. and Daniel L. Childers.  1998.  Quantifying aboveground biomass and estimating net aboveground primary production for wetland macrophytes using a non-destructive phenometric technique.  Aquatic Botany 62:115-133.

 

Morris, James T. and Betty Haskin.  1990.  A 5-yr record of aerial primary production and stand characteristics of Spartina alterniflora.  Ecology 71:2209-2217.

 

Otte, M. L. and J. T. Morris (1994).  Dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) in Spartina alterniflora Loisel.  Aquatic Botany 48:239-259.

 

Strickland, T. D. and T. R. Parsons.  1972.  A Practical Handbook of Seawater Analysis.  Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

 

DATA AVAILABILITY STATUS:

Type 3

ARCHIVE INFORMATION:

Date of entry: July 24, 2001

Data entered by: Robert J. Daoust, Karen Sundberg

Comments: