About the Project

Tidal marshes are facing tremendous pressures from accelerating rates of sea-level-rise. As sea level is rising, marshes are changing. This project was the first in-depth study to leverage a nationally-coordinated dataset generated by 20 National Estuarine Research Reserves across 85 marshes in 17 states to better understand how sea level rise is affecting tidal plant communities. The National Marsh Synthesis Team (NAMASTE) enacted a data synthesis framework that included in-depth conversations with all participating reserves to integrate local datasets into a standardized national dataframe. This dataframe was analyzed to quantify vegetation change across marsh characteristics at local, regional and national scales. The project produced site to national level trends, a data tool package aiding in analyzing tidal marsh data (e.g, data templates, coding script, coding user guides and training videos, data visualization apps, a GIS dashboard), and communication tools (e.g., illustrations, logo, website). As the NERR system continues to collect tidal marsh data, these tools can be used by reserve staff or collaborators to include newly collected data.

About the Resource

This toolkit and accompanying training materials allow users to replicate the project’s methods to analyze their own marsh monitoring data. The toolkit is designed to be used with data collected from the NERRs national tidal marsh vegetation monitoring protocol (Moore 2013; NERR 2025), but can also be used for similar monitoring data.

For NERR biomonitoring data users, these tools can be used, customized and re-used to analyze future data, different metrics, and/or different sites.

For non-NERR users, these tools can be utilized to analyze similar tidal marsh vegetation monitoring data (i.e., ~1m2 plot-based monitoring dispersed across all major marsh vegetation sub-communities), following the detailed instructions and resources provided.

Basic familiarity with R studio (e.g., opening and running scripts) is recommended.

How to get started:

The “National Marsh Synthesis Team (NAMASTE) User Guide” is a comprehensive guide to using the toolkit resources. Reading the User Guide is the best way to get familiar with the toolkit. However, for a quick start, check out an overview of key steps. Links to relevant resources are given in the accordion menu below.

1. Gather your data. Use data collected from the NERRs tidal marsh vegetation monitoring protocol (Moore 2013; NERR 2025) or similar monitoring data.
2. Format your data using the “Data Format Template”. Refer to the “Sample Dataset” for additional support. (User Guide Section 3 and 4).
3. Decide on your analysis goals. Fill out the “Analysis Specification Template and Example” according to your analysis specifications and Ecotone Migration Index categories. (User Guide Section 4a or see the “Ecotone Migration Index (EMI) Conceptual Model”).
4. Download the R project and file directory from the GitHub repository (User Guide Section 5). Prepare to use the R script by:
   • Confirming that R and RStudio are installed on your computer; and,
   • Moving organized data files into the proper folder associated with the directory.
5. Analyze your data using the R scripts. Read your data into the code and run your analysis. (User Guide Section 5). Note: In order for your R scripts to run, the file structure must match the original directory and you must have one copy of the “veg” and “veg-spec” files in the data folder.
6. Explore your results using the code’s output file. (User Guide Section 6).
7. Create data visualizations for further exploration using the “Vegetation Data Exploration App.”

At any time, refer to the “Technical Training Video Series.” If you need help obtaining your data and analysis spec files, please contact Kim Cressman ([email protected]) or Chris Peter ([email protected])