DOI: 10.6073/pasta/a7498d484b1ac6b719ee7cec65056e5b
title: Plum Island LTER phytoplankton identification using HPLC and Chem Taxonomy along transects in the Plum Island Sound estuary, Massachusetts. (Reformatted to the ecocomDP Design Pattern)

description: This data package is formatted as an ecocomDP (Ecological Community Data Pattern). For more information on ecocomDP see https://github.com/EDIorg/ecocomDP. This Level 1 data package was derived from the Level 0 data package found here: https://pasta.lternet.edu/package/metadata/eml/knb-lter-pie/404/4. The abstract below was extracted from the Level 0 data package and is included for context: Water column samples are collected along an estuarine salinity gradient as part of our monitoring surveys of the Parker River estuary each spring and late summer (typically high vs low freshwater input). Samples are filtered, and stored frozen for later pigment analyses by HPLC. Pigment data are then analyzed by CHEMTAX, calibrated to a matrix of pigment ratios based on taxonomy and enumeration of selected subsamples by microspcopy. Data are presented in terms of chlorophyll a concentrations partitionaed among the major phytoplankton groups as determined by CHEMTAX. For 2003-2006, sampling stations along the Plum Island Sound-Parker River were at fixed geographic locations at specific "Bends" in the river. In 2008, we began sampling the water column in salinity space rather than at specific geographic locations along the river. This sampling approach was adopted in order to follow particular water masses in this macrotidal estuary. In practical terms, it means that sampling locations, or stations, are not static. Therefore, we have mapped the 11 sampling locations (latitude and longitude are logged at each station) from each transect along the mainstem of the estuary, so each station may be placed along the river (to the nearest 0.5km) as well as in salinity space. We have also used the km marker to assign the sampling locations from each survey to one of four bounding boxes : the Sound (Plum Island Sound; EST-PR-SoundBND) which encompasses approximatly the first 9.5 km or the transect, with Okm at the mouth of the sound; the Lower Parker River (EST-PR-LowerParkerBND) , ~9.5 - 14.5 km; the Middle Parker River (EST-PRMiddleParkerBND), ~14.5 - 18.75 km, and the Upper Parker River (EST-PR-UpperParker BND)., ~18.75 to 24.25 km (the Parker R. Dam). The Plum Island Ecosystems (PIE) LTER is developing a predictive understanding of the response of a linked watershed-marsh-estuarine system in northeastern Massachusetts to rapid environmental change. Over the last 30 years, surface sea water temperatures in the adjacent Gulf of Maine have risen at 3 times the global average, rates of sea-level rise have accelerated, and precipitation has increased. Coupled with these changes in climate and sea level are substantial changes within the rapidly urbanizing watersheds that influence water, sediment, and nutrient delivery to the marsh and estuary. In PIE IV our focus is on: Dynamics of coastal ecosystems in a region of rapid climate change, sea-level rise, and human impacts. NSF OCE LTER-Plum Island Ecosystems: Dynamics of coastal ecosystems in a region of rapid climate change, sea-level rise, and human impacts.