Coral Health Survey Data from Lord Howe Island During 2010-2012 Heatwaves

Between March 2010 and September 2012, coral health surveys quantified the response of approximately 42,000 coral colonies to successive marine heatwaves. The dataset, associated with a 2020 research paper, documents bleaching severity, mortality, and recovery at high-latitude reefs around Lord Howe Island. It also assesses changes in benthic community composition before, during, and after the thermal stress events.

Use Cases

• Modeling coral bleaching thresholds based on successive thermal anomalies described in the study
• Analyzing resilience and recovery rates of specific coral taxa like Pocillopora and Acropora mentioned in the description
• Studying shifts from coral-dominated to macroalgae-dominated reef assemblages following repeated heat stress
• Assessing the impact of fast El Niño to La Niña transitions on high-latitude coral reef ecosystems

Strengths

• Documents a specific, high-impact event: successive marine heatwaves during a fast El Niño to La Niña transition
• Quantifies the response of approximately 42,000 individual coral colonies
• Includes temporal coverage from before, during, and after the stress events (March 2010 to September 2012)
• Identifies specific affected coral taxa (e.g., Pocillopora, Stylophora, Porites, Montipora)

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 the single study location at Lord Howe Island

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Coral health surveys conducted at reef sites around Lord Howe Island

Time Range

March 2010 to September 2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 13:24:40.597075; freshness should be verified

Geography

Lord Howe Island, a high-latitude coral reef location