Populations

MCR LTER: Coral Reef: Growth-predation risk trade-offs constrain the local distribution of a thicket-forming staghorn coral to marginal reef habitats; Data for Ladd et al., 2025, Scientific Reports

This dataset is in support of the manuscript: Growth-predation risk tradeoffs constrain the local distribution of a thicket-forming staghorn coral to marginal reef habitats. These data were collected to 1) document how Acropora pulchra is distributed around the island of Moorea, and 2) to better understand the ecological processes that shape that distribution.

MCR LTER: Coral Reef: Spatial portfolios in coral metapopulations are shaped by spatiotemporal asynchrony in environmental conditions; Data for Srednick et al., 2026 Ecology Letters

Using wavelet analyses of a 19-year coral community timeseries from Moorea, French Polynesia, we quantified timescale-specific population synchrony in four common coral genera and evaluated the predictors of spatial portfolio effects. We detected synchrony within genera associated with synchrony in degree heating days, diurnal temperature range (DTR), and macroalgal cover at different timescales. Synchrony in DTR and macroalgal cover was associated with lower synchrony of Pocillopora and Porites populations, respectively.

MCR LTER: Coral Reef: Insights from the competition–palatability trade-off paradigm on the reversibility of coral- to-macroalgae regime shifts, data for Cook et al., 2026 Scientific Reports

This data package contains field and experimental data used to investigate how trade-offs between herbivore palatability and competitive ability shape macroalgal community dynamics on coral reefs in Moorea, French Polynesia. Data were collected from a series of complementary assays and manipulative field experiments conducted in lagoon habitats on the north shore of Moorea between 2019–2022.

MCR LTER: Coral Reef: Reducing consumer pressure increases community dissimilarity leading to coral- or algal-dominance on a coral reef; Data for Speare et al., 2026 Ecology

These data are from a four-year consumer exclusion and nutrient enrichment experiment conducted at one site on the forereef of Mo’orea, French Polynesia. In June 2018, we established a factorial experiment manipulating consumer pressure and nutrient availability in areas that mimicked disturbance from a cyclone. At 12m depth on the north shore forereef of Moorea, French Polynesia (17.47° S, 149.82° W) we established 8 ~30m2 plots.

MCR LTER: Coral Reef: Corallivorous nudibranch responses to bleached and healthy corals

These data were generated in support of the manuscript: Bilodeau SM and Hay ME (2026) Recent stresses and maladaptive behavior: a specialist coral predator does not choose healthy over bleached corals despite strong impacts on consumer fitness. Marine Ecology Progress Series. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps15221 We investigated the host preferences of corallivorous nudibranch Tenellia lugubris in Moorea, French Polynesia and the consequence of those preferences.

MCR LTER: Coral Reef: Patch size and proximity to neighbors affect benthic richness; data for Dahl and Edmunds, Ecosphere 2026

Completed data package associated with the manuscript Dahl & Edmunds 2026, Ecosphere. Data collected in the lagoonal habitats of Moorea, French Polynesia and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, collected on SCUBA and snorkel in 2023 and 2024.
Removing dead coral after marine heatwaves can mitigate coral-algae competition and increase viable coral recruitment.

Year: 

2025
Terrestrial nutrient inputs restructure coral reef dissolved carbon fluxes via direct and indirect effects.

Year: 

2025
Sea cucumber grazing linked to enrichment of anaerobic microbial metabolisms in coral reef sediments.

Year: 

2025
Nutrient and sediment loading affect multiple facets of coral functionality in a tropical branching coral.

Year: 

2020
Positive feedbacks in social-ecological systems can maintain coral dominance.

Year: 

2025
Biodiversity of macroalgae does not differentially suppress coral performance: the other side of a biodiversity issue.

Year: 

2024
Sea cucumber grazing linked to enrichment of anaerobic microbial metabolisms in coral reef sediments.

Year: 

2025
Submarine groundwater discharge alters benthic community composition and functional diversity on coral reefs.

Year: 

2025
A Busse balloon in the lagoon: Herbivore behaviour generates spatial patterns in coral reef ecosystems.

Year: 

2025
The effect of bottom-up and top-down forces on the abundance, feedbacks and resilience of macroalgae on coral reefs.

Year: 

2025
Conservation physiology of fishes in the anthropocene.

Year: 

2024
The remains of change: how the legacies of shifting disturbance regimes alter the resilience of contemporary coral reefs.

Year: 

2024
Responses of coral physiology to daily temperature range (DTR): Evaluating the ability of acclimation to DTR in thermally priming.

Year: 

2025
Submarine groundwater discharge impacts key life history processes of a nearshore coral, Pocillopora acuta.

Year: 

2024
The interactive effects of fish herbivory and water flow on the morphology of marine macroalgae.

Year: 

2024
Exploring how biophysical interactions influence recruitment and physiology of small scaleractinian corals in disturbed reefs.

Year: 

2024
Investigating the interactive effects of diel ph and temperature variation on the physiology of the reef-dwelling crustose coralline alga Lithophyllum kotschyanum.

Year: 

2024
Habitat fragmentation on shallow coral reefs may protect benthic invertebrates from declines in diversity as habitats degrade.

Year: 

2024
Detecting and interpreting viral dynamics in marine invertebrate holobionts.

Year: 

2023
The spatial ecology of phase shifts in a heterogeneous coral reef system.

Year: 

2023
Interactive effects of environment and neighborhood on coral physiology and demography.

Year: 

2023
Processes that promote resilience of coral reef systems: How dynamics of fishing and herbivory alter coral-algal interactions.

Year: 

2023
Natural environmental gradients alter community composition and ecosystem functioning on coral reefs.

Year: 

2023
The ecological role of post-mortality legacies on early life stages of corals and octocorals on shallow coral reefs.

Year: 

2022

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