Great Barrier Reef and Torres Straits juvenile coral demographics

Brief description

The dataset contains information of juvenile coral demographics from multiple regions (n = 4) situated throughout the Torres Straits (Far North) and the Great Barrier Reef (North, Central, South). Each region has multiple reefs (n = 2-5), with multiple sites (n = 1-6) nested within each reef, and multiple quadrats within each site (n = 3-9). \nAt the beginning of the study, permanent quadrats (50 x 50 cm) were placed around =>1 juvenile coral (<40 mm maximum diameter), standardised to a 5 m depth profile. All juvenile corals within the quadrat had their location mapped, size measured (maximum diameter), identified to the lowest taxon possible (typically genus), and orientation categorised (exposed, vertical, cryptic). \nAn image of the entire quadrat was taken, plus four detailed images of each quadrat quadrant. Processing of the in-situ maps and images included mapping the xy co-ordinates of every mapped individual colony, and calculating the % cover of the benthic substrate.\nEvery ~12 months, the entire process is repeated. Quadrats are revisited, the juvenile corals re-measured, marked as dead, and new colonies added, and associated images taken. Datasets allow for the quantification of juvenile coral demographic rates (growth, survival, and recruitment), changes in % cover within the quadrats, with all data geolocated to the 16 xy coordinates within each quadrat.\n\nAccess\nMetadata is fully public. Data files will be uploaded and made fully public once the research has been published.\nFor special requests, please directly contact the Data Custodian and CC the Project Leader.\n\nLineage: NA – the dataset is the raw dataset prior to cleaning. It contains all necessary information to conduct cleaning by the user.