Website

https://www.nerrsdata.org

Region(s)

NE

Summary

The primary goal of this project is to initiate long-term monitoring of emergent intertidal vegetation at GTMNERR to provide a better understanding of the ecological characteristics of this dynamic community and discern the impacts of global environmental changes on the estuarine ecosystem. Following the NERRS protocols for biological monitoring (Moore 2009, 2010), specific objectives include: 1) Establish permanent emergent intertidal vegetation monitoring sites throughout the estuary spanning the entire north-south gradient of the reserve. 2) Characterize patterns in vegetation species composition, abundance, and cover at multiple temporal and spatial scales. 3) Determine the influence of environmental characteristics on vegetation patterns. 4) Determine the impact of large-scale environmental changes (e.g., climate change, sea level rise) on the emergent intertidal vegetation community. Coastal wetland data and metadata can be downloaded at https://www.nerrsdata.org .

Parameters

species cover (%), stem density (#/m^2), canopy height (m)

Notes

Application

To measure changes in estuarine waters that help provide a better understanding of how human activities and natural events can affect coastal resources and to provide valuable data on the short-term variability and long-term changes in estuaries to researchers, natural resource managers and other coastal decision-makers.

Publications

presentations, meetings, reports, and online

Start

2012

End

Current

Frequency

Semiannual

Method

permanent quadrats 0-, 6-, and 10-m from shore at six sites; quadrats evenly spaced along replicate shore-to-upland transects at one site

Discontinuity

Data Location

GTMNERR, https://cdmo.baruch.sc.edu/get/vegetation_index.cfm

Data Format

xlsx and docx
https://www.nerrsdata.org

Habitats

Coastal Wetlands

SEACAR Citation

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP); Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection (RCP); Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR); NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). (2023). Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Emergent Intertidal Vegetation Monitoring. Updated 05/01/2024. Distributed by: SEACAR Data Discovery Interface, Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection, Florida Department of Environmental Protection. https://data.florida-seacar.org/programs/details/4017

Alternative Citation

indicates priority attributes