Photoplot-based Monitoring of Salt Marsh Vegetation

Curtis, A; Asper, Jennifer; Eastman, Scott; Baron, Lisa

The following Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is for assessing salt marsh vegetation composition and abundance on an annual basis using the total vegetation cover and average height of the dominant plant species. The following procedures for salt marsh vegetation monitoring are adapted from a number of sources, including: NERRS SWMP Bio-Monitoring Protocol, Long-term Monitoring of Estuarine Submersed and Emergent Vegetation Communities (Moore 2009); Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resource Division protocol (Folse and West 2004); and, Monitoring Salt Marsh Vegetation, A Protocol for the Long-term Coastal Ecosystem Monitoring Program at Cape Cod National Seashore (Roman et al. 2001). The species composition and abundance will be estimated for vegetation as well as key surface characteristics such as bare ground, detritus, or crab burrows. Cover is a common measure of species abundance in vegetation studies. This will be performed using point-intercept counts of digital imagery (100 points per 1-m2 image). In brief, the observer records each species/surface that is intercepted at 100 points randomly located within each 1-m² plot. The area within the 1-m2 plot is sampled using a frame-mounted digital camera and the image is analyzed in the office following the methods of Booth et al. (2004). The image is analyzed in SamplePoint software, in which a minimum of 100 points are randomly selected and manually classified into one of several pre-determined classes. This protocol contains the information on how to establish and collect data at 1 vegetation plot. This procedure is conducted at each of the 5 vegetation plots located around the platform, as shown in Figure 1. The Southeast Coast Network has 3 platforms per site, and therefore, these steps are conducted at the all 3 platforms totaling 15 vegetation plots per site.

Photoplot-based Monitoring of Salt Marsh Vegetation

Collections