Community composition analysis of sediment cores collected in 2014 on the reef slope of Clerke Island, Australia

Twelve reef sediment cores were collected on the leeward reef slope of Clerke Island, QLD, Australia via manual percussion coring on SCUBA in August of 2014. Each of these sediment cores were then divided into 5 cm subsections and sieved to collect clasts >4 mm. The genus of coral clasts >4 mm within each subsection were identified. Biomass of each genus was determined by weighing each sample after drying. Weighing and subsampling of cores occurred in early 2021. This data was collected to assess the temporal changes in coral community composition and understand how coral community dynamics in an isolated reef ecosystem with limited impact from sediment run-off and other localised anthropogenic effects since European colonisation.