Data from: The role of the reef flat in coral reef trophodynamics: past, present and future

Full description

This dataset consists of one MS Excel (.xlsx) file. This file contains the total abundance, biomass, biomass growth and productivity consumed data for surgeonfishes, rabbitfishes and parrotfishes used in the analysis.  All data is based on an area of 100 m-2. The data is based on 10-minute timed swim counts (transect length was approximately 117 m long) in the slope (at 12 m depth), crest (at 2-5 m), flat (2-5 m; approximately 20 m in from the crest) and back reef (along the reef margin) habitats on four mid-, and four outer-shelf reefs on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Full site descriptions may be found in Wismer et al. (2009).

The data set also contains the width of each reef habitat (back, flat, crest and slope; in meters) used to standardize abundance, biomass, biomass growth and productivity consumed data between reef habitats. The relative widths of the reef zones were measured on satellite photographs (Google Earth) of ten haphazardly selected mid- and outer-shelf reefs from the central/northern Great Barrier Reef.

The dataset also contains estimates of mean net flow velocity (cm per second) for the four different reef habitats (back, flat, crest, slope) across both mid- and outer-shelf reefs. Estimates were based on Fulton and Bellwood (2005) and Fulton et al. (2013).   

Literature cited:

Fulton, C.J. & Bellwood, D.R. (2005) Wave-induced water motion and the functional implications for coral reef fish assemblages. Limnology and Oceanography, 50, 255–264.

Fulton, C.J., Binning, S.A., Wainwright, P.C., Bellwood, D.R., (2013) Wave-induced abiotic stress shapes phenotypic diversity in a coral reef fish across a geographical cline. Coral Reefs, 32, 685–689.

Wismer, S., Hoey, A.S. & Bellwood, D.R. (2009) Cross-shelf benthic community structure on the Great Barrier Reef: relationships between macroalgal cover and herbivore biomass. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 376, 45–54.

Notes

This dataset is available as a spreadsheet in MS Excel (.xlsx) and Open Document formats (.ods)