LITData_CoralBenthicSurvey_LizardIsland_1995to2017

Coral reef benthic community line intercept transect data from Lizard Island, Australia.<br><br>Method: Line intercept transect<br>Years: 1995 - 2017Sites: 21Taxa: Scleractinian corals to species, other benthic taxa at lower taxonomic resolution.<br>Field data were collected at Lizard Island, Australia and consisted of line intercept transect (LIT) surveys of the benthic community focussing on scleractinian coral colonies, where a colony was defined as a contiguous live surface of coral. Data were collected over eight campaigns across 21 sites and a timespan of 22 years, recording 2960 colonies from 181 species representing a broad spatial, temporal and taxonomic sample (Madin et al., 2018) Two cyclones in 2014 and 2015, and the 2016 mass bleaching event occurred during the data collection period.