Northeast United States

Annual primary productivity in control plots at a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh at Law's Point, Rowley River, Plum Island Ecosystem LTER, MA.

Abstract: 

Annual productivity is determined from aboveground biomass data at permanent, high marsh, plots in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh on the Rowley River within the Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) LTER site, MA.

Core Areas: 

Data set ID: 

127

Keywords: 

Short name: 

LTE-MP-LAC-productivitymeans

Purpose: 

 

Data sources: 

LTE-MP-LAC-productivitymeans_csv
LTE-MP-LAC-productivitymeans_xls

Methods: 

General:
This data set is part of an on-going LTER project at the Plum Island Ecosystem (PIE) site.   The sampling location is in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated marsh at Law's Point on the Rowley River and West Creek in Rowley MA.  A boardwalk was built to access 12 permanent sampling plots (1m2 each).  there are 4 treatments within the boardwalk structure (3 replicates each).  The 4 treatments are Control, N-fertilized, P-fertilized, and N+P-fertilized.  Only the untreated, control plots are addressed in this data set.

Sampling Description:
The biomass-estimation method is non-destructive.  Two permanent subplots were established in each  of 3 control plots in the marsh.  Each subplot is 10cmx10cm.  The subplots are labeled 1&2, with subplot 1 being the more northerly and/or westerly subplot.  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 began in June 1999.  In May 2006 the Control census plots were relocated  due to potential contamination from fertilized plots.  The census subplots kept the same id#’s from when they were within the boardwalk for continuity within the ACCESS database.

Data processing:
Plant data are entered first into an EXCEL spreadsheet, and eventually transferred to an ACCESS data base.  Outputs from ACCESS are processed with two FORTRAN programs.  The FORTRAN programs use algorithms to convert the ACCESS data outputs to plant weight, density, births, deaths and growth (Morris and Haskin, 1990).  Fortran outputs are entered into SAS programs to calculate productivity. 

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-LPA, ~ 1.1 meters NAVD88

 

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 2019

Version 01; new data and metadata
Version 02; new data and metadata
Version 03: February 2, 2012, updated data and metadata to Dec 2011. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007.xlsm 2/1/12 5:00 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 04: August 8, 2013, data and metadata updated to comply with importation to Drupal and LTER PASTA. Research location name and description updated.Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007.xlsm 3/14/13 12:02 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 05: April 22, 2014, 2013 data and metadata updated to comply with importation to Drupal and LTER PASTA.Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Sep2013.xlsm 9/30/13 02:57 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 06: May 28, 2014, edited wrong year 2990 should be 2009 in data, data and metadata comply with importation to Drupal and LTER PASTA. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007.xlsm 5/28/14 2:09 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 07: February 18, 2015, data and metadata updates to comply with importation to Drupal and LTER PASTA. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Jan2015.xlsm 1/15/15 4:26 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 08: February 24, 2016, data and metadata updates to comply with importation to Drupal and LTER PASTA. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Jan2015.xlsm 1/15/15 4:26 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 09: September 15, 2017, data and metadata updates to comply with importation to Drupal and LTER PASTA. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Jun2017.xlsm 6/15/17 10:23 AM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 10: June 14, 2018, data and metadata created to comply with importation to Drupal and LTER PASTA. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Jan2018.xlsm 1/30/2018 2:24 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 11: February 27, 2019, data and metadata updates to comply with importation to DEIMS7 and LTER Data Portal. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Jan2018.xlsm 6/21/18 3:53 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0
Version 12: October 5, 2020, data and metadata updates to comply with importation to DEIMS7 and LTER Data Portal. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Sep2020.xlsm 9/17/20 1:11 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0.

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