Gulf of America marsh recovery, marsh production, and nekton utilization database from 1957 to 2013 (NCEI Accession 0168339)

This data package contains compiled data (e.g., vegetation percent cover, vegetation above ground biomass, soil organic matter content, nekton density) and associated site and sampling information (e.g., location, sampling date, habitat type) from independent field studies performed in the Gulf of America from 1957 to 2013. It contains data extracted and compiled from 187 papers. The data included in this database were part of a systematic literature review and meta-analysis focused on understanding recovery of structural and functional attributes of a marsh following restoration, marsh primary productivity, and nekton utilization of coastal shallow estuarine habitats in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The data were extracted to 1) evaluate whether vegetation, soil, and nekton parameters at restored marsh sites recovered to levels found at paired reference sites, 2) estimate primary productivity of marsh habitat, and 3) understand general patterns in nekton utilization across shallow estuarine habitat types, including marsh, oyster reefs, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), and open-water non-vegetated bottom (NVB) in the northern GOM.

This archival package contains the data in the original Microsoft Database as well as the database exported to Comma Separated Value (.csv), Excel spreadsheets(.xlsx) and Portable Document Format (.pdf) files.

This research was funded by contracts from the State of Louisiana and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to Abt Associates (and its predecessor company, Stratus Consulting) for work associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill natural resource damage assessment.