Dataset: Coral cover in St. John, US Virgin Islands from 2007-2016

This study was carried out on shallow reefs along the south coast of St. John, which have been monitored since 1987, and studied since the 1950’s. Three aspects of the time-series analyses are utilized, and the study period exploited concurrent sampling of coral cover, coral recruitment, and the dynamics of small corals (colonies ≤ 40-mm diameter). These aspects of community structure were studied at 5–6 sites at 5–9-m depth between Cabritte Horn and White Point (Figs. 1, S1), and each was added to the study as the project evolved, mostly for purposes other than the one described herein. The longevity and breadth of this study created opportunities for analyses that rarely have been considered in ecological investigations of coral reefs, but the ad hoc evolution of the study resulted in an imperfect match among the components, notably in the 4-m depth range over which the three aspects of community structure were studied. This depth range is ecologically relevant for corals, and interpretation of the present analysis therefore must be constrained by the assumption that temporal variation in coral recruitment, dynamics of small corals, and coral cover is similar between 5 and 9 m depth. Apart from the first two years over which recruitment was measured every ~ 6 months, annual surveys were completed in July and August. Throughout this analysis, study sites, and mean values by site, are treated as statistical replicates of the fringing reefs of St. John.

The entire Excel Workbook, which contains the additional datasets listed below,  can be downloaded using the following link: https://datadocs.bco-dmo.org/docs/302/St_John_LTREB/data_docs/Data_for_Paper_Feb_2017_copy.xlsx

Coral mortality and growth in St. John, US Virgin Islands from 2006-2016: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/750710
Coral cover, density, and recruits averages per site in St. John, US Virgin Islands from 2007-2016: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/750740
Coral cover, density, and recruits averages per year in St. John, US Virgin Islands from 2007-2016: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/750771
Mean monthly seawater temperatures in St. John, US Virgin Islands from 1989-2016: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/750049