Sediment organic and inorganic matter within intertidal eelgrass beds in Southeast Alaska

• Main Authors: Tiffany Stephens, Ginny Eckert
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity 2018
• Subjects: Organic matter; Inorganic matter; Seagrass; Ecosystem services; Carbon sequestration; Carbon; Prince of Wales Island; Archipelago; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5063/F1ZS2TTH

Sediment cores were collected from 21 sites along western Prince of Wales Island and the surrounding archipelago in Southeast Alaska. The cores were collected to quantify the amount of organic and inorganic material within intertidal eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds in each site. The cores were 5 cm in diameter and were divided into 2-cm layers for analysis; the deepest core reached a maximum of 70 cm in sediment depth. Both organic and inorganic material were determined via loss-on-ignition (LOI) methods, consistent with the majority of existing literature. These data were collected to compliment a larger, interdisciplinary project called APECS (Apex predators, Ecosystems, and Community Sustainability), the focus of which investigated the role that sea otters have on seagrass habitats, their ecological function, and influences on traditional and subsistence harvest of specified marine organisms.