Many aspects of coral reefs are changing in the face of increasing stress, but some are changing more quickly than others. Benthic communities can change in a season, as when corals die in a typhoon or bleaching event, whereas other aspects of the system, such as structural complexity, may take decades to shift. Reef fishes’ responses to benthic change may depend on their sensitivity to rapidly-changing dynamic factors relative to more slow-moving static ones, and those sensitivities can be estimated from the spatial distribution of current populations.

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.

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.

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.