Dataset: Turf cover data for coral-turf contact experiment

Name: DRAFT Turf cover data for coral-turf contact experiment
Published: 2025-01-24
Keywords: coral-turf competition, allelopathy, macroalgae, biota, oceans

View Data: Data not available yet

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Spatial Extent: N:-17.4885 E:-149.881639 S:-17.4885 W:-149.881639

Mo‘orea, French Polynesia (17°29’18.6”S 149°52’53.9”W), < 3m depth

Temporal Extent: 2022-03-07 - 2022-09-11

Project:

Positive Effects of Coral Biodiversity on Coral Performance: Patterns, Processes, and Dynamics (Coral Biodiversity)

Principal Investigator:

Mark E. Hay (Georgia Institute of Technology, GA Tech)

Co-Principal Investigator:

Frank James Stewart (Montana State University)

Scientist:

Zoe Pratte (Montana State University)

Student:

Noam T Altman-Kurosaki (Georgia Institute of Technology, GA Tech)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Dana Stuart Gerlach (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

Version Date:

2025-01-24

Restricted:

Validated:

Current State:

Preliminary and in progress

DRAFT Turf cover data for coral-turf contact experiment

Abstract:

Turf-coral interactions and their impacts relative to those of macroalgae were evaluated by placing corals (Acropora pulchra and Porites rus) in contact with turf communities from territories of two species of damselfishes, with two common macroalgae, and with inert algal mimics as physical controls. After 13 days, turfs reduced coral photosynthesis by 31–59%, while macroalgae and mimics had minimal effects. After 24 hours of contact, chemicals from turf surfaces suppressed coral photosynthesis, affecting A. pulchra more strongly than P. rus. The experiment was repeated during the austral winter using freshly collected turf and also turf that had been collected for the austral summer experiment and kept frozen. What we saw was the significant allelopathic effects observed during the austral summer experiment were undetectable during the austral winter experiment. [Isn't this the same abstract as ticket 5748 (dataset 949219)??]

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Description

[How does this data relate to coral_algal_contact_data or coral turf allelopathy experiments? The abstract and methods are nearly identical, so we will need dataset-specific details.]

Methods & Sampling

We utilized turfs from territories of S. nigricans and S. punctatus to assess: i) turf effects on corals, ii) differential impacts based on turf species composition, and iii) variance in effects on the coral Acropora pulchra versus Porites rus. Species composition of turfs in territories of S. nigricans versus S. punctatus was assessed by collecting turf haphazardly from territories (n = 12) of each damselfish species spread across an approximately 0.07 km2 region in both March and September 2022. Samples from S. nigricans territories were collected using a 1.3 cm grommet punch and from S. punctatus territories by cutting a similarly sized area from territories on A. pulchra bases. Turfs were stored in 4% formalin in seawater, and species composition quantified following methods of Diaz-Pulido and McCook (2002).

Data Processing Description

Code for processing data can be found at: https://github.com/naltmank/coral_turf_contact_exp [recommend getting a DOI for the code if possible]

BCO-DMO Processing

- Imported data from source file "turf_species_cover.csv"into the BCO-DMO data system.
- Modified parameter (column) names to conform with BCO-DMO naming conventions. Replaced dot separators with underscores. The only allowed characters are A-Z,a-z,0-9, and underscores. No spaces, hyphens, commas, parentheses, periods, or Greek letters.
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- Converted date format from mm/dd/yyyy to yyyy-mm-dd (ISO Date 8601 format)
- Added a column for Season (either austral winter or austral summer)

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-1947522

Deployments

None available yet

Instruments

Fluorometer

Supplied Name: Walz in-situ PAM Fluorometer

Supplied Description:

Treatment effects on corals were assessed with a Walz in situ pulse-amplitude-modulated (PAM) fluorometer directly at the site of coral-algal contact

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Fluorometer

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L05/current/113/

Generic Description:

A fluorometer or fluorimeter is a device used to measure parameters of fluorescence: its intensity and wavelength distribution of emission spectrum after excitation by a certain spectrum of light. The instrument is designed to measure the amount of stimulated electromagnetic radiation produced by pulses of electromagnetic radiation emitted into a water sample or in situ.

punch tool

Supplied Name: grommet punch

Supplied Description:

Samples from S. nigricans territories were collected using a 1.3 cm grommet punch.

Instrument Type

Generic Name: punch tool

Generic Description:

A punch tool is a tool used to make holes or indentations in materials.
Examples include: grommet punch, perforator, hole punch, biopsy punch tool, core cutter.

Parameters

None available yet

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Database

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Dataset: Turf cover data for coral-turf contact experiment