Dataset: Eelgrass shoot lengths measured at two depths within each of four coastal sites in Massachusetts, USA in 2019

Location description: Four coastal sites in the Gulf of Maine, USA, that sustain continuous eelgrass meadows across a depth gradient of ~1-2 m below MLLW to ~4-5.5 m below MLLW (see Supplemental File "Site List" for site codes used in this dataset and coordinates (lat,lon)).
 
We conducted a field survey in the shallow and deep zone of the meadow at each site, with zones defined by proximity to the respective edges of the eelgrass beds. Divers on SCUBA harvested all above-ground eelgrass biomass within in 5-7 0.25 x 0.25 m quadrats set in each of three previously established permanent quadrats per depth per site (N = 15-21 quadrats per depth per site). Shoots were transferred to the lab on ice, where we measured the shoot length of up to five vegetative shoots per quadrat. Length was measured to the nearest 0.5 cm, from the meristem to the tip of the longest leaf.

Organism: 
eelgrass, Zostera marina, urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:495077