Marsh to Upland: Vegetation Monitoring in Coastal Virginia, 2018-2022

This dataset includes data from vegetation plots along a marsh to upland gradient in three salt-marshes along the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Coastal wetlands serve as vital habitats and provide various ecosystems services. These ecosystems are experiencing novel abiotic conditions driven by anthropogenic change, including changes in salinity and moisture due to sea level rise. A key component of wetland ecosystems are their vegetation communities, which often show a transition from non-woody marsh plants like grasses and sedges to woody shrubs and larger trees in the upland reaches of the wetland. This dataset was collected from three coastal wetlands: Boxtree Preserve (Boxtree), Cushmans Landing (Cushmans), and Mockhorn Wildlife Management Area GATR Tract (GATR). Measurements of emergent vegetation percent cover and tree and shrub characteristics are taken annually at maximum biomass for the plant community, which occurs in August in this system (Moore 2013). At each site sampling occurs along four transects which run through the low marsh, high marsh, transitional area, lowest elevation upland forest, and slightly higher elevation upland forest. Each transect is segmented into five zones based on these plant communities, which roughly correspond to elevation bins of 1m. Each zone contains one sampling location.

本数据集收录了弗吉尼亚东海岸三处盐沼中，沿沼泽至高地环境梯度布设的植被样地数据。滨海湿地是至关重要的栖息地，可提供多样的生态系统服务。当前这些生态系统正受人为活动驱动，出现全新的非生物环境变化，其中包括海平面上升引发的盐度与湿度改变。湿地生态系统的核心组成之一为其植被群落，这类群落通常会沿湿地高地梯度呈现清晰的演替过渡：从禾草、薹草等非木本沼泽植物逐步过渡为木本灌木与高大乔木。

本数据集采集自三处滨海湿地：博克斯特里保护区（Boxtree Preserve，简称Boxtree）、库什曼登陆点（Cushmans Landing，简称Cushmans）以及Mockhorn野生动物管理区GATR地块（GATR）。研究团队于每年植物群落生物量峰值期开展采样——该区域的植被生物量峰值出现在8月（引自Moore 2013）——测定内容包括挺水植被盖度以及乔灌的相关特征参数。

每个采样点均沿4条样线布设，样线贯穿低潮沼、高潮沼、过渡区域、最低海拔高地森林以及稍高海拔高地森林五类生境。每条样线依据植被群落类型被划分为5个样区，这些样区大致对应1米间隔的海拔梯度区间，每个样区设置1个采样点位。