Supplemental large-area imaging data from: Groundtruthing assessments of lab-based coral thermal tolerance with large-area imaging

These data include the supplemental large-area imaging (LAI) data for a study conducted on three reefs in southern Taiwan with different thermal histories. The study compared in-situ LAI monitoring with ex-situ experiments with the goal of groundtruthing some of the experimental results. The other supplemental data from this paper are publicly available on GitHub (https://github.com/michaeltconnelly/taiwan_p-acuta [for algal symbiont identification] and https://github.com/CJ-McRae/McRae_Holloway_et_al_GCB_submission).

Complementary to the heat-stress assay assessment of thermal tolerance we established 3 large-area imaging plots (5 m x 5 m; 25 m2) at each reef site. Images were collected during the spring (April 20 – May 5) and again in the fall (August 29 – September 23) of 2022 at Haikou, Inlet, and Outlet reefs. All plots were centered on the 2-3 m isobath and permanent markers were installed to ensure the same area was resurveyed in the fall. Image collection methods were adapted from the Sandin Lab (2023). In brief, a team of two SCUBA divers conducted the large-area imaging surveys; one diver set up the plot and collected site metadata while the other diver collected the imagery. The image collection diver swam in a boustrophedonic pattern approximately 1 m above the bottom. Images were collected using Olympus TG-6 cameras (25 mm equivalent focal length) at a one second interval. At least 2,000 images were collected at each plot to ensure sufficient image overlap.