Impact of environmental gradients on juvenile coral demography across the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait

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.\n\nAt the beginning of the study, permanent quadrats (0.5 x 0.5 m) were placed around ≥1 juvenile coral (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). \n\nAdditional data on sedimentation, reef slope, and turf height were collected in situ at every site by a single surveyor (S. N.) in 2022. \n\nFor 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.\n\nAccess\nMetadata is fully public. Data files associated with the published manuscript (Doropoulos et al. 2025 Coral Reefs) are fully public.\nFor additional information, please directly contact the Data Custodian and CC the Project Leader.\n\nLineage: The datasets provided are cleaned as described in the published manuscript (Doropoulos et al. 2025 Coral Reefs)

本研究的采样范围覆盖大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef）南部至北部及托雷斯海峡（Torres Strait）间14个纬度的海域。最南端的礁体为马斯格雷夫礁（Lady Musgrave，南纬23.9°），最北端的礁体为马西格岛礁（Masig Island，南纬9.45°）。沿该纬度梯度，礁体分布于从近岸到远岸的陆架区域，礁体内的采样点设置于名义分类的“前礁”（fore-reef）、“后礁”（back-reef）与“潟湖礁”（lagoonal reef）等不同波浪暴露程度的生境中。本研究共设置6个“礁集群”（reef cluster），每个集群嵌套2-3个礁体，每个礁体嵌套2-6个采样点，总计56个采样点与253-263个样方（quadrat）（详见补充表S1）。年度采样于每年1月至5月间开展三次：采样点于2021年布设，随后分别于2022年和2023年进行复勘。

研究初期，我们在每处至少1株幼珊瑚（研究初期体长40mm，研究期间形成的嵌合体、群体分裂产生的小型断片，以及所有自由生活的石珊瑚（scleractinian corals），如蕈珊瑚属（Fungia）、海蕈珊瑚属（Heliofungia））周围布设了尺寸为0.5m×0.5m的永久性样方。

2022年，由同一名调查员（S. N.）在每个采样点原位（in situ）采集了沉积物沉积速率（sedimentation）、礁坡（reef slope）及藻席高度（turf height）的补充数据。

针对每个礁体采样点与每个采样周期（2021-2022年与2022-2023年），我们从eReefs水动力模型（hydrodynamic model，GBR1 v2.0）与生物地球化学模型（biogeochemical model，GBR4）中提取了关键水环境参数。

数据获取说明：元数据（metadata）完全公开。与该已发表论文（Doropoulos等人，2025年《珊瑚礁》（Coral Reefs））相关的数据集文件均完全公开。如需获取更多信息，请直接联系数据保管人（Data Custodian），并抄送项目负责人（Project Leader）。

数据集谱系：本数据集已按照已发表论文（Doropoulos等人，2025年《珊瑚礁》（Coral Reefs））中的描述完成清洗处理。