Data from: Trait networks reveal turnover in Caribbean corals and changes in community resilience through the Cenozoic

This dataset comprises fossil occurrence records and life history trait
data for reef-building scleractinian corals from the western equatorial
Atlantic (including the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Bahamas) across
multiple epochs of the Cenozoic Era. Coral occurrence data were downloaded
from the Paleobiology Database (PBDB) on 01 October 2022, filtered to
include collections from eight specific epochs and sub-epochs where data
were available: Eocene, Oligocene, early and late Miocene, early and late
Pliocene, and early and late Pleistocene. Only reef-building coral species
were retained following taxonomic validation against WoRMS and removal of
azooxanthellate and non-reef-building taxa. Species-level trait data,
including growth form, colony form, maximum corallite diameter, and
budding type, were compiled from NMITA, CoralTraits.org, published
literature, and recent trait databases. Traits were categorized to assess
functional diversity and coral life history strategies across ~54 million
years. This curated dataset supports macroevolutionary and paleoecological
analyses of coral community composition and functional change through
time.