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-NIN-productivity.03
Dataset Title:Annual productivity at Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh plots in North Inlet, Georgetown, SC.
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:Warren Hankinson
Keywords:LTER, PIE, Plum Island Ecosystems, South Carolina, North Inlet, estuary, salt marsh, Spartina alterniflora, aboveground biomass, annual productivity, Southeast United States
Abstract:Annual productivity is determined from aboveground biomass data in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh plots in North Inlet, Georgetown, SC. Aboveground biomass is determined non-destructively. There are five sites. Two sites are low marsh; three sites are high marsh. One site in the high marsh is fertilized with nitrogen and phosphorus.
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-NIN-productivity.dat
Data File Name LTE-MP-NIN-productivity
Beginning Date 5/1/1984
End Date 12/31/2007
Number of Data Records 114
Other Files to Reference LTE-MP-NIN-biomass, LTE-MP-LPA-biomass, LTE-MP-LPP-biomass
Availability Status type 1
Quality Control Information
Maintenance Description Collections occur every month. 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
Version 3: March 13, 2008 Data and metadata update
 
RESEARCH LOCATION: Site 1 Site 2
Geographic Description North Inlet, Georgetown, SC;  
Location Bounding Box    
West Bounding Coordinate -79.2  
East Bounding Coordinate -79.18  
North Bounding Coordinate 33.35  
South Bounding Coordinate 33.32  
OR if single point location    
Latitude    
Longitude    
Elevation    
     
     
 
TAXONOMIC COVERAGE:
Taxonomic Protocols
Organisms studied Spartina alterniflora
 
Methods:Sampling Description:
Duplicate sampling quadrats (10cmx10cm, 10cmx15cm or 20cmx20cm) are permanently installed within triplicate m2 plots at each of five sites on the marsh platform in North Inlet, SC. Plants within each quadrat are tagged, and plant heights are measured monthly. The three plots at one of the sites are fertilized every other month with NH4NO3 and P2O5 for a final annual application rate of 26.7 mol N/m2/y and 12.3 mol P/m2/y.

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). Annual productivity is determined using the Smalley method and SAS (SAS System for Windows; release 8.02; SAS Institute, Inc; Cary, NC). Data are reported as the mean annual productivity 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
year year   datetime     yyyy    
site name of sampling station   nominal GI=Goat Island | OL=Oyster Landing        
location location of sampling station   nominal HM=High Marsh | LM=Low Marsh        
treatment treatment   nominal NP=Fertilized | C=Control        
annual productivity mean annual productivity (dry weight) gramsPerMeterSquaredPerYear ratio   real      
stderr standard error of mean annual productivity (dry weight) gramsPerMeterSquaredPerYear ratio   real      
comments Information pertaining to individual data points   nominal