Coral Health Surveys at Lord Howe Island During 2010-2012 Heatwaves

Approximately 42,000 coral colonies were surveyed between March 2010 and September 2012 to quantify bleaching impacts from successive marine heatwaves. The data, from a study published in Science of The Total Environment, documents severe bleaching ranging from 99% at shallow sites to 17% at deeper sites. It captures changes in benthic community composition before, during, and after the thermal stress events linked to a fast El Niño to La Niña transition.

Use Cases

• Modeling coral bleaching severity based on taxa and reef depth mentioned in the description
• Analyzing coral community shifts to macroalgae dominance following repeated thermal stress events
• Assessing the resilience and recovery timelines of specific coral taxa like Pocillopora and Acropora
• Studying the ecological impact of rapid El Niño to La Niña phase transitions on reef assemblages

Strengths

• Approximately 42,000 coral colonies surveyed, providing a substantial sample size.
• Data collection spans over two years (March 2010 to September 2012), capturing pre-, during, and post-bleaching conditions.
• Quantifies bleaching severity with specific percentages (e.g., 99% at shallow sites, 17% at deeper sites).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing solely on Lord Howe Island.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network (via data_gov_au), associated with a peer-reviewed publication.

Collection Method

Coral health surveys conducted in the field.

Time Range

March 2010 to September 2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-16 23:37:35.051009; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Coral reef assemblages around Lord Howe Island, a high-latitude world heritage site.