This study spanned 14° of latitude from the southern to northern Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait. The southernmost reef was Lady Musgrave (latitude 23.9°S), while the northernmost reef was Masig Island (Masig = 9.45°S). Across this latitudinal gradient, reefs were situated across the shelf from inshore to offshore, and sites within reefs were situated in a variety of wave exposures on nominal ‘fore-reefs’, ‘back-reefs’, and ‘lagoonal reefs’. In total, there were six ‘reef clusters’, with 2-3 reefs nested in each cluster, and 2-6 sites nested in each reef, with a total of 56 sites and 253-263 quadrats (Table S1). Annual sampling was conducted three times from January to May: sites were established in 2021, then resurveyed in 2022 and 2023.
At the beginning of the study, permanent quadrats (0.5 x 0.5 m) were placed around ≥1 juvenile coral (<40 mm), standardised to a 5 m depth profile, with an average of n = 4 fixed quadrats per site (range = 1-6 per site). Each permanent quadrat was demarcated by a stainless-steel stake in up to three corners, with a numbered tag in one corner for orientation and quadrat identification. Once quadrats were established, all juvenile corals within each quadrat had their location mapped, size measured using callipers (maximum diameter to closest mm) and identified to the lowest taxon possible (typically genus). An image of the entire quadrat was taken, plus four detailed images of each quadrant (0.25 x 0.25 m) within each quadrat, and close-ups of individual juveniles to confirm taxonomic identity. Post-processing included transcribing the initial hand-drawn maps onto the images of each quadrat in preparation for the next census period.
Quadrats were resurveyed every 12 months. Resurveys included in situ measuring all previously mapped corals for changes in size or mortality, any new colonies were added to the maps (i.e., recruitment), and associated images were taken. Data extractions then allowed for quantifying rates of individual juvenile coral colony growth, mortality, and recruitment.
Data cleaning involved the removal of 417 colonies: those that were >40 mm at the beginning of the study, chimeras that formed during the study, small fragments created by fission of colonies, and any free-living scleractinian corals (Fungia, Heliofungia).
Additional data on sedimentation, reef slope, and turf height were collected in situ at every site by a single surveyor (S. N.) in 2022.
For each reef site and sampling period (2021-2022 and 2022-2023), key environmental water parameters were extracted from eReefs hydrodynamic (GBR1 v2.0) and biogeochemical (GBR4) models.
Access
Metadata is fully public. Data files associated with the published manuscript (Doropoulos et al. 2025 Coral Reefs) are fully public.
For additional information, please directly contact the Data Custodian and CC the Project Leader.
