Dataset: Percentage cover of the benthos by live coral at 10 m depth at sites in Moorea Moorea, French Polynesia from 2008 to 2021

The ecological methods are described in detail in Edmunds et al. (2024, doi:10.1007/s00442-024-05517-y), and are briefly summarized below.

The study utilized the time series of the Moorea Coral Reef LTER, as they relate to coral community dynamics on the north shore fore reef. Annual measurements of coral cover, the density of coral settlers, and the density of small corals were used together with records of the environmental conditions to which they were exposed. Analyses focused on 2008–2021, which captured the final years of the last population outbreak of the crown of thorns (COTs) sea star, the coral population recovery that took place between 2010 and 2019, and coral mortality attributed to bleaching in 2019. Biological data came from two sites (LTER1 and LTER2) that are ~ 3 km apart, with environmental data from the same or similar sites (temperature), one of the two sites (flow at LTER1), or from 4.5 km resolution remote sensing data (Chlorophyll a).

Coral cover was measured annually (April except for 2020 [August] and 2021 [May]) at 10-m depth along a 50 m, permanently marked transect at LTER 1 and LTER 2. Along each transect, 40 photoquadrats (0.5 × 0.5 m) were photographed at positions that were randomly selected in 2005, but fixed thereafter. Pictures were illuminated with strobes, and analyzed using CPCe or CoralNET software with manual annotation of 200 randomly located points on each image. Substrata beneath the points were categorized to coral genus, and the percentage cover for all corals (scleractinians and Millepora) and Pocillopora spp., is reported. The changes in cover of corals (scleractinians and Millepora) provided a holistic summary of the coral community consistent with how we have described it elsewhere and how it is described in the broader scientific literature on coral reefs. The separate summary for Pocillopora spp. provided a measure of coral cover that is the product of the most abundant coral settlers found on tiles deployed in the same habitat (i.e., pocilloporids). The density of small corals (≤ 4-cm diameter) was quantified in the field annually, shortly after the photoquadrats were recorded (but not in 2020 due to COVID-19), and was completed using quadrats (0.5 × 0.5 m) placed in the same positions as the photoquadrats. The benthos, including beneath branching corals, was inspected for small corals that were recorded to genus, and the densities of all corals and Pocillopora spp. are reported in units of corals 0.25 m^-2.

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