The dataset and model code pertinent to the Everglades Peat Elevation Model (EvPEM): The salinity and inundation mesocosm experiment in freshwater and brackish water sawgrass wetlands in Florida Coastal Everglades (2015-2017).

This is an assembled data and Everglades Peat Elevation Model (EvPEMv1.0) Stella code used to estimate and simulate net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) and peat elevation change in response to saltwater intrusion and level of inundations. Data from several studies were combined for the estimation of NECB, model parameterization, and calibration (Wilson, 2018; Wilson et al., 2018, 2019; Charles et al., 2019; Servais et al., 2020). The reported data includes aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), belowground net primary productivity (BNPP), peat elevation change, and decomposition rates that were collected from outdoor laboratory mesocosm experiments conducted at the Florida Bay Interagency Science Center in Key Largo, Florida during 2015-17. The plant-soil monoliths were obtained from a freshwater peat and a brackish water peat marsh located within the Florida Coastal Everglades and transported to the Key Largo facility for the experimental manipulations. In experiments focused on the brackish water marsh, three experiments were carried out reflecting the combined effect of salinity, inundation, and peat exposure to air. The brackish water experiments characterized submerged (SUB), exposed (EXP), and extended depth of exposure of peat surface (EXTEXP) conditions, as we varied water depth relative to the peat surface. Each experiment was subjected to two salinity manipulations: (1) ambient (~10 ppt) porewater salinity (AMB) and (2) elevated (~20 ppt) salinity (SALT). The experimental design included six (2 X 3) treatments: (1) submerged ambient salinity (AMB.SUB), (2) submerged elevated salinity (SALT.SUB.), (3) exposed ambient salinity (AMB.EXP), (4) exposed elevated salinity (SALT.EXP), (5) exposed with extended exposure/dry-down ambient salinity (AMB.EXTEXP), and (6) exposed with extended exposure/dry-down elevated salinity (SALT.EXTEXP). The water level was kept 4 cm above the peat surface for the brackish water SUB treatments. Exposure for the EXP treatment was 4 cm below the soil surface. In EXTEXP treatment, the exposure of the peat surface varied from 0 to 20 cm for approximately 6 months in order to simulate drought, where the length of the dry-season was extended, relative to field conditions at the brackish water marsh. The EvPEMv1.0 code was exported from the Stella system dynamics software (version 1.9.2), and the detailed modeling framework of Stella can be found in Ishtiaq et al., 2022.