Root biomass, productivity, and turnover of riverine and scrub mangroves in the Everglades, Florida, USA, 2000-2006

Mangrove root biomass and productivity in the shallow (0-45 cm depth) and deeper (45-90 cm) root zones were estimated at Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research (FCE-LTER) Program Shark River (SRS4, SRS5, SRS6) and Taylor River (TS/Ph6b, TS/Ph7b, TS/Ph8) mangrove sites during 2000-2006. Root biomass was estimated at all sites using a PVC coring device (10.2 cm diameter x 45 cm length). After collection, root cores from each zone were processed individually and initially rinsed with water through a 1-mm screen mesh to remove soil particles. Live roots were separated manually based on their buoyancy, turgor, and color. Live roots were further sorted into three size diameter classes including fine (<2 mm), small (2-5 mm), and coarse (5-20 mm). Roots greater than 20 mm in diameter were not included in this study due to sampling limitations (i.e., core area). All root samples were oven-dried at 60°C to a constant mass and weighed to estimate root biomass (g m-2). Root productivity was estimated with the ingrowth core technique (Vogt et al., 1998). Ingrowth cores (10.2 cm diameter x 45 cm length) were made of synthetic material (3 mm mesh) and filled with root-free commercial sphagnum peat moss. This material has similar soil properties (i.e., bulk density, organic matter content, total C and N) as mangrove peat in our study sites. Ingrowth cores were installed in each of the cored holes formed during sampling of root biomass. At each site, ingrowth cores were deployed vertically into the soil and retrieved at one- and three-year intervals, and the subsequent root growth within the ingrowth core was used to estimate annual root production (g m-2 yr-1) in the shallow and deeper root zones across all mangrove sites. After collection, ingrowth cores were processed individually using the same protocol as for root biomass. Root turnover rate in the shallow root zone was calculated as root productivity divided by root biomass of each root size class at all sites. Data in this package is associated with Castañeda-Moya et al. (2011). Data collection for this package is complete.
References:
Castañeda-Moya, E., R.R. Twilley, V.H. Rivera-Monroy, B.D. Marx, C. Coronado-Molina, and S.M.L. Ewe. 2011. Patterns of root dynamics in mangrove forests along environmental gradients in the Florida Coastal Everglades, USA. Ecosystems 14: 1178-1195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9473-3.
Vogt, K.A., D.J. Vogt, J. Bloomfield. 1998. Analysis of some direct and indirect methods for estimating root biomass and production of forests at an ecosystem level. Plant Soil 200:71–89.