Recovery dynamics of reef-forming corals rebound carbonate production potential in the Great Barrier Reef

This data supports all statistical analyses and figures reported in Gonzalez-Barrios et al., 2026. Title: Recovery dynamics of reef-forming corals rebound carbonate production in the Great Barrier Reef Abstract: Ecosystems worldwide are changing recovery patterns following intensifying human disturbances, yet the dynamics of this recovery—and whether it restores key ecosystem functions—remain poorly resolved. Here, we examine long-term recovery patterns of reef-building corals and associated carbonate production across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) using three decades of data from 92 reefs and 1,380 permanent transects spanning >1,200 km. We identify four distinct recovery periods between 1995 and 2024, characterised by sustained increases in coral cover, scattered with phases of decline. Carbonate production broadly tracked coral cover but exhibited shorter and more variable recovery windows, with stronger relative rebounds in two periods. Recovery trajectories were shaped by shifts in coral assemblage composition. Early coral cover recovery phases were dominated by fast-growing tabulate Acropora, resulting in relatively high carbonate production rebounds when comparing to other coral groups. The recent recovery period (2021–2024) involved a more taxonomically diverse assemblage including important contributions to both coral cover and carbonate production from massive corals, Porites spp., and Merulinidae. Massive corals exhibited long-term declines—until recovering in the more recent period—and several taxa with relatively low cover (e.g., Montipora spp., Porites spp. and branching Acropora) made substantial contributions to carbonate production, highlighting a persistent functional shift toward disturbance-sensitive taxa with high turnover. These findings demonstrate that coral recovery on the GBR does not uniformly translate into functional recovery, as carbonate production depends strongly on the identity and traits of recovering taxa. While the GBR maintains a high capacity for short-term functional recovery, the transition toward faster-growing, disturbance-sensitive assemblages may undermine long-term reef structural persistence under a regime of increasing climatic disturbances. Consequently, ongoing changes in community composition are reshaping the geo-ecological functioning of the GBR, with critical implications for its future stability.