Data from a linked land-sea modeling framework to inform ridge-to-reef management in high oceanic islands

This data is a portion of a larger project that developed a novel linked land-sea modeling framework based on local data, which coupled groundwater and coral reef models at fine spatial resolution, to determine the effects of terrestrial drivers (groundwater and nutrients), mediated by human activities (land cover/use), and marine drivers (waves, geography, and habitat) on coral reefs. Declining natural resources have led to a cultural renaissance across the Pacific that seeks to revive customary ridge-to-reef management approaches to protect freshwater and restore abundant coral reef fisheries. As a results, there is am omcreased need for improved understanding of land-sea linkages and decision-support tools to simultaneously evaluate the effects of terrestrial and marine drivers on coral reefs, mediated by anthropogenic activities. We applied this framework in two ‘ridge-to-reef’ systems (Hā‘ena and Ka‘ūpūlehu) subject to different natural disturbance regimes, located in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Spatial prediction grids of coral reef indicators at 60 x 60 m, deried from the linked land-sea modeling framework. These predictons represent a snapshot in time of the coral reef community under present conditions. Present distribution allows to identify coral reef areas vulnerable to future coastal development or climate change project impacts.