This archive contains natural coral reef topography data from the southeast coast of Mo’orea, French Polynesia and idealized reef topography generated with a fractional Brownian motion (fBm) algorithm. These data were used to understand and compare different metrics for quantifying coral reef roughness. These data relate to this publication: Duvall, M. S., J. L. Hench, and J. H. Rosman, in press, Collapsing complexity: metrics to quantify multi-scale properties of reef topography.

The negative implications of the thermal sensitivity of reef corals became clear with coral bleaching throughout the Caribbean in the 1980’s, and later globally, with the severe El Niño of 1998 and extensive seawater warming in 2005. These events have substantially contributed to declines in coral cover, and therefore the El Niño of 2016 raised concerns over the implications for coral reefs; on the Great Barrier Reef these concerns have been realized.

Bottom-mounted instrumentation (SeaFET, Seabird conductivity/temperature sensor, Hobo water level data loggers) sampled for 7 weeks on the Hobihu fringing reef in Nanwan Bay, Taiwan. Sampling began in May 2012. The instruments were secured to anchored fencing stakes at 4 meters depth and 0.6 meters above the sandy bottom. The SeaFET recorded voltages from a thermistor and pH electrodes at a 10-minute sampling interval.

These data were generated from a one-time experiment in support of a coral ecophysiology manuscript published in The Biological Bulletin. Wall and Edmunds (2013) The Biological Bulletin vol. 225 no. 2: 92-101 Juvenile colonies of massive Porites spp. were exposed to manipulated pH and bicarbonate ([HCO3 -]) in situ to test the hypothesis that ocean acidification (OA) does not affect respiration and calcification. Incubations lasted 28 h and exposed corals to ambient temperature and light with ecologically relevant water motion.

These data were generated from a one-time experiment in support of a coral ecophysiology manuscript; published in Global Change Biology 2012. Edmunds et al. (2012) Global Change Biology 18: 2173-2183 doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02695.x These data were collected to test the hypothesis that the response of corals to temperature and pCO2 is consistent between taxa. Juvenile massive Porites spp. and branches of P.

This dataset contains vertical water column profiles along transects in Opunohu Bay and Cook’s Bay on the north side of Moorea. The SeaBird SBE19-Plus Profiler (CTD), outfitted with WetLabs FLNTURT-221 fluorometer, was cast at closely-spaced stations along transects down the length of the bays. Standard CTD parameters (conductivity, temperature, and density) were used to calculate salinity, depth, and other physical quantities. No bottle samples were collected on these cruises. Profiles in the bays were obtained when sea conditions offshore prohibited sampling over the forereef.

Physical oceanographic data from bottom-mounted instrumentation (Seabird 16+ CTD) were sampled year-round on Gump reef in Cooks Bay on Moorea, French Polynesia (GUMPR site). Sampling began in 2006 until early 2012. The CTD measured conductivity, temperature, pressure, from which density and salinity were calculated. Data were collected every 5 minutes, processed and reported every 20 minutes. The instrument is mounted 2 m above the bottom in 6 m of depth.

The data included in this data package were collected in the lagoon of Moorea, French Polynesia. Data on coral mortality were collected in July 2019. Data on nitrogen content (%N) in the long-lived brown macroalga Turbinaria ornata were collected during six sampling campaigns between January 2016 and May 2021 to characterize nitrogen availability at each site. Data on seawater temperatures at six LTER sites in the back reef were collected from 2005-2019, but temperature loggers at two sites (LTER 1 and LTER 6) only recorded partial ocean temperature records during the heatwave from 2018-2019.

These data and code were generated in support of the manuscript: Cook DT, Schmitt RJ, Holbrook SJ, and HV Moeller, Ecosphere. To investigate the impacts of selectively harvesting functional groups of herbivorous fishes on coral resilience, we used a dynamic model that is grounded by the coral reef system in Moorea, French Polynesia. Our model simulates the fraction of a reef occupied through time by classes of key benthic spaceholders (coral, two stages of macroalgae, and turf). Benthic and fishing dynamics are linked through the harvesting of two functional groups of herbivorous fishes.

In this study, we explored plasticity of physiological responses of coral larvae from a reef in French Polynesia. The study was motivated by these questions: (1) what is the present-day exposure of Pocillopora damicornis to natural variability of pH and temperature on the natal reef?, (2) what is the response of P.