Data from: Using community composition and successional theory to guide site-specific coral reef management

High spatial or temporal variability in community composition makes it
challenging for natural resource managers to predict ecosystem
trajectories at scales relevant to management. This is commonly the case
in nearshore marine environments, where the frequency and intensity of
disturbance events varies at the sub-kilometer to meter scale, creating a
patchwork of successional stages within a single ecosystem. The
successional stage of a community impacts its stability, recovery
potential, and trajectory over time in predictable ways. Here we
demonstrate the value of successional theory for interpreting fine-scale
community heterogeneity using Hawaiian coral reefs as a case study. We
tracked benthic community dynamics on 36 forereefs over a six-year period
(2017–2023) that captures impacts from high surf events, a marine
heatwave, and unprecedented shifts in human behavior due to the COVID-19
pandemic. We document high spatial variation in benthic community
composition that was only partially explained by island and environmental
regime. Through hierarchical clustering, we identify three distinct
community types that appear to represent different successional stages of
reef development. Reefs belonging to the same community type exhibited
similar rates of change in coral cover and structural complexity over
time, more so than reefs located on the same island. Importantly,
communities that were indicative of early succession (low coral cover
reefs dominated by stress-tolerant corals) were most likely to experience
an increase in coral cover over time, while later stage successional
communities were more likely to experience coral decline. Our findings
highlight the influence of life-history and successional stage on
community trajectories. Accounting for these factors, not simply overall
coral cover, is essential for designing effective management
interventions. Site-specific management that accounts for a community’s
unique composition and history of disturbance is needed to effectively
conserve these important ecosystems.