LITData_CoralBenthicSurvey_LizardIsland_1995to2017

Coral reef benthic community line intercept transect data from Lizard Island, Australia.Method: Line intercept transectYears: 1995 - 2017Sites: 21Taxa: Scleractinian corals to species, other benthic taxa at lower taxonomic resolution.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.