Plant richness survey of mainland, barrier island and back-barrier hammock island locations around Sapelo Island and St. Simons Island, Georgia, in June-July 2005

I conducted a plant richness survey of 59 sites around Sapelo Island and St. Simons Island, Georgia, in June-July 2005. Sites were chosen to include a range of mainland, barrier island, and back-barrier hammock island locations. All sites were dominated by salt marsh plant species, primarily Spartina alterniflora. To provide a general indication of the salinity conditions prevailing at each site, I measured salinity of the nearest body of water with a refractometer on the date that the site was sampled. Plant richness was documented along a single 5.0m wide transect at each site. Each transect began at the lower elevational limit of vegetation and continued perpendicular to the water's edge to the shrub community at the upper marsh border. Plant presence was noted in a series of nested subplots within a 1.0m x 5.0m plot at each meter along the transect. The results posted here are sites, position, salinity, and the site pool, or species encountered at the site.