This dataset is a record of the field and lab measurements I have made of my field manipulation trials, in which I am simulating groundwater intrusions of salt and phosphorus via controlled releases in the field and measuring the responses of the local environmental conditions and periphyton communities. Experimental manipulations were established on Sept. 22, 2020 and field collections subsequently occurred between Oct. 6 – Nov 16, 2020. The study site was in the FP&L Model Lands, just north of the E-137 canal. GPS coordinates 25º20’34.7” N, 80º24’41.2” W. Local environmental conditions were oligotrophic fresh waters in a shallow marl prairie with remarkably high calcareous periphyton growth. The manipulations were set up so that natural periphyton communities could colonize controlled substrate tiles which would expose the periphyton to four levels of concentrations of salt, phosphorus, both, and neither (control). After the manipulations were deployed, data and samples were collected on the environmental and periphyton conditions every two weeks for the next two months (four sampling events total). [4 ion concentrations x 4 exposure types x 4 sampling events = 64 samples, plus 2 samples of the non-disturbed natural periphyton community collected each time = 74 total samples]. My baseline data include records of the type and concentration of ions released for each plot, and each subsequent sampling event sampled the local water electrical conductivity (salt proxy), plus the periphyton biomass, community composition, and phosphorus content at each plot.
