Data from: Decadal-scale time series highlight the role of chronic disturbances in driving ecosystem collapse in the Anthropocene

These data support a publication in the Journal Ecology that describes 37
years of change on the coral reefs of St. John, US Virgin Islands. In this
paper, four decades of surveys from two coral reefs (9 and 14 m
depth) off St. John, US Virgin Islands, are used to quantify the
associations of acute and chronic events with the changes in benthic
community structure. These reefs profoundly changed over 36 years, with
coral death altering species assemblages to depress abundances of the
ecologically important coral Orbicella spp. and elevating the coverage of
macroalgae and crustose coralline algae/turf/bare space (CTB). Linear
mixed models revealed the prominent role of chronic variation in
temperature in accounting for changes in coverage of corals, macroalgae,
and CTB, with rising temperature associated with increases in coral cover
on the deep reef, and declines on the shallow reef. Hurricanes were also
associated with declines in coral cover on the shallow reef, and increases
on the deep reef. Multivariate analyses revealed strong associations
between community structure and temperature, but weaker associations with
hurricanes, bleaching, and diseases. These results highlight the
overwhelming importance of chronically increasing temperature in altering
the benthic community structure of Caribbean reefs.