Northeast United States

Aboveground biomass from control sites in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh at Stackyard Rd, Nelson Island Parker River NWR, Plum Island Ecosystem LTER, Rowley, MA.

Abstract: 

Aboveground biomass is determined non-destructively at permanent, high marsh control (non-fertilized) plots in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh on Nelson Island near Stackyard Rd in the Parker River NWR within the Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) LTER site, MA.

Core Areas: 

Data set ID: 

577

Keywords: 

Short name: 

LTE-MP-SRA-biomassmeans

Data sources: 

LTE-MP-SRA-biomassmeans_csv
LTE-MP-SRA-biomassmeans_xls

Methods: 

General:

This data set is part of an on-going LTER project at the Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) site.  

Sampling Description:
The biomass estimation method is non-destructive.  Three replicate permanent plots were established on the marsh platfomr. Each plot is 10cmx10cm.  In May and June, plants in the subplots are tagged with bird ID bands.  Approximately monthly from May to October, heights of the tagged plants and associated culms are measured to the nearest cm.  Plant heights are read into a digital recorder.  Descriptions of the locations of the plants within the quadrat are also recorded (e.g. northwest corner or northwest of tag #xxxx).  Plant measurements are always taken with the observer on the same side of the quadrat for ease in tracking  individual plants throughout the growing season.

The plant census at began in June 2019. 

Data processing:
Plant height data are entered first into an EXCEL spreadsheet.  AFORTRAN program is used to calculate plant weight from plant height (Morris and Haskin, 1990).  Fortran outputs are entered into SAS programs to calculate means. 

References:
(Morris and Haskin, 1990. Ecology 71(6):2209-2217)
(SAS System for Windows; release 8.02; SAS Institute, Inc; Cary, NC)

Elevation:
LTE-MP-SRA, ~ 1.42 meters NAVD88 (surveyed summer 2021)

Maintenance: 

Collections occur approximately every month from May through October.  Database is updated once annually, usually in the winter.  Study and data collection are ongoing as of Dec 2021.

Version 01: 16 November 2021, Updated data and metadata. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Jul2021.xlsm 7/26/2021 9:04 AM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0.

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