Plant community surveys along transects at multiple sites on Sapelo Island and St. Simons Island in Georgia during June and July 2005

I sampled 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 composition of the plant community in 0.5 x 0.5 m quadrats located at 1 m intervals along the transect. This data set is a companion to PLT-GCET-0608, which provides pooled data for sites in Georgia.