Coral Health Surveys During Successive Marine Heatwaves at Lord Howe Island

Approximately 42,000 coral colonies were surveyed between March 2010 and September 2012 to quantify bleaching impacts and recovery. The dataset documents coral health before, during, and after two successive thermal anomalies linked to a fast El Niño to La Niña transition. Research was conducted by authors including Steven J. Dalton and published in Science of The Total Environment in 2020.

Use Cases

• Modeling bleaching severity (e.g., 99% at shallow sites) as a function of site depth and coral taxa like Pocillopora or Acropora.
• Analyzing temporal recovery patterns from tissue mortality in March 2010 to pigmentation return by September 2010 using repeated survey data.
• Assessing shifts in benthic community composition from coral-dominated to macroalgae-dominated assemblages following repeated heat stress.
• Evaluating species-specific resilience by comparing mortality rates between highly affected taxa (e.g., Montipora) and less affected ones (e.g., merulinid species).
• Correlating bleaching events with specific climate phases (2009–2010 El Niño, 2011 La Niña) to understand drivers of thermal anomalies.

Strengths

• Health assessments for approximately 42,000 individual coral colonies provide a substantial sample for analysis.
• Surveys span a 2.5-year period (March 2010 to September 2012), capturing pre-event, event, and post-event recovery states.
• Data includes specific, quantified bleaching percentages (e.g., 99% at shallow sites, 17% at deeper slopes) and identifies affected coral taxa.

Limitations

• The dataset is confined to coral reef assemblages around Lord Howe Island, limiting geographic generalizability.
• Sample data and specific column structures (e.g., measurement variables) are not provided in the description, complicating direct reuse.
• The temporal coverage is a fixed historical period (2010-2012) and does not represent ongoing monitoring.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, associated with a peer-reviewed publication in Science of The Total Environment.

Collection Method

Coral health surveys conducted in the field, quantifying bleaching response, mortality, and benthic community composition.

Time Range

March 2010 to September 2012.

Freshness

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Geography

High-latitude coral reef assemblages around Lord Howe Island, a World Heritage site.