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-porewater.03
Dataset Title:Nutrient concentrations from porewater samples at three marsh fertilization experimental research sites.
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, Parker River, porewater, salt marsh, nutrient cycling, ammonium, phosphate, Typha, Spartina
Abstract:Nutrient concentrations from porewater samples at three long term marsh fertilization experimental research sites. The sites include one Typha-dominated brackish marsh, one Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh, and one S. patens-dominated salt marsh. Sites are located on the Rowley and upper Parker Rivers in the Plum Island Ecosystem (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-porewater.dat
Data File Name LTE-MP-porewater
Beginning Date 7/1/1999
End Date 10/31/2007
Number of Data Records 3570
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
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 and upper Parker River Marsh site  
Location Bounding Box    
West Bounding Coordinate -70.842  
East Bounding Coordinate -70.915  
North Bounding Coordinate 42.757  
South Bounding Coordinate 42.731  
OR if single point location    
Latitude    
Longitude    
Elevation    
     
     
 
TAXONOMIC COVERAGE:
Taxonomic Protocols
Organisms studied Typha; Spartina alterniflora; Spartina patens
 
Methods:General:
There are 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.

Sampling Description:
Triplicate porewater diffusion samplers are permanently installed in fertilized (30 mol N/m2/y and 15 mol P/m2/y through 2001; 7.5 mol N/m2/y and 3.75 mol P/m2/y beginning in 2002) and control plots at each of the three research sites. Each sampler collects porewater from depths of 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100 cm. Samples are retrieved monthly from May through October. Porewater samples are filtered (0.45 uM) and preserved with either ZnAc (for sulfides) or HCl (for SRP and NH4) immediately upon return from the field. These samples are then shipped to the lab in SC for analysis.

Lab Methods:
Filtered porewater samples are analyzed for SRP, NH4, S2 and chloride concentrations according to standard laboratory protocols (Strickland and Parson (1972); Otte and Morris (1994)).

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     mmm    
TRT treatment   nominal NP=fertilized | C=control        
REP porewater sampler replicate number   nominal          
DEPTH depth (cm) centimeter ratio   real      
SRP soluble reactive phosphorus concentration (uM SRP) microMolesPerLiter ratio   real   . .=not measured; BD=below detection
NH4 ammonium concentration (uM NH4) microMolesPerLiter ratio   real   . .=not measured; BD=below detection
S2 sulfide concentration (uM S-2) microMolesPerLiter ratio   real   . .=not measured; BD=below detection
Cl chloride concentration (g Cl/l) gramsPerLiter ratio   real   . .=not measured; BD=below detection
COMMENTS Information pertaining to individual data points   nominal