Six years of demography data for 11 reef coral species

Scleractinian corals are colonial animals with a range of life history strategies that make up diverse species assemblages that contribute to coral reef growth. We tagged and tracked approximately 30 colonies from each of 11 species for six years (2009-2015) in order to measure their vital rates and competitive interactions on the reef crest at Trimodal Reef, Lizard Island, Australia. Pairs of species were chosen from five growth forms (massive [<em>Goniastrea pectinata </em>and <em>G. retiformis</em>], digitate [<em>Acropora humilis</em> and <em>A. cf. digitifera</em>], corymbose [<em>A. millepora</em> and <em>A. nasuta</em>], tabular [<em>A. cytherea</em> and <em>A. hyacinthus</em>] and arborescent [<em>A. robusta</em> and <em>A. intermedia</em>]) where one species of the pair was locally rare and the other abundant. (An extra corymbose species, <em>A. spathulata</em> was included when it became apparent that <em>A. millepora</em> was too rare to work with on the reef crest, making the 11 species in total.) The tagged colonies were visited each year in the weeks prior to mass spawning. During visits, photographs were taken by two or more observers from directly above and on the horizontal plane with a scale plate to track planar area. Dead or missing colonies were recorded and new colonies tagged in order to maintain approximately 30 colonies per species throughout the six years of the study. In addition to tracking tagged corals, 30 fragments were collected from neighboring untagged colonies of each species for counting numbers of eggs per polyp (fecundity); and fragments of untagged colonies were brought into the laboratory where spawned eggs were collected for size and energy measurements. We also conducted surveys at the study site to generate size structure data for each species in several of the years. Each tagged colony photograph was digitized by at least two people. Therefore, we could examine sources of error in planar area for both photographers and outliners. Competitive interactions were recorded for a subset of species by measuring the margins of tagged colony outlines interacting with neighboring corals. The study was abruptly ended by Tropical Cyclone Nathan that killed all but nine of the over 300 tagged colonies in early 2015. Nonetheless, these data will be of use to other researchers interested in coral demography and coexistence, functional ecology, and parametrizing population, community and ecosystem models.石珊瑚（Scleractinian corals）是一类具有多样生活史策略的群体动物，它们构成了多样的物种种群，助力珊瑚礁的生长发育。本研究于澳大利亚蜥蜴岛的三峰礁（Trimodal Reef）礁脊带，对11个物种的约30个群体进行了为期6年（2009-2015年）的标记与追踪，以测定它们的生命速率与种间竞争互作。研究从5类生长型中选取物种种对：块状型（如<em>Goniastrea pectinata</em>与<em>G. retiformis</em>）、指状型（如<em>Acropora humilis</em>与<em>A. cf. digitifera</em>）、伞房状型（如<em>A. millepora</em>与<em>A. nasuta</em>）、桌状型（如<em>A. cytherea</em>与<em>A. hyacinthus</em>）以及树枝状型（如<em>A. robusta</em>与<em>A. intermedia</em>），每对物种中一个为当地稀有种，另一个为常见种。后续因发现<em>A. millepora</em>在礁脊带难以开展研究，补充加入了伞房状型的另一个物种<em>A. spathulata</em>，最终共计11个研究物种。标记群体的野外回访均安排在每年大规模产卵前数周进行。回访期间，由两名及以上观察者从正上方水平面拍摄带有比例尺的照片，以追踪珊瑚群体的平面面积。研究期间记录死亡或失踪的群体，并补充标记新的群体，以维持每个物种在6年研究周期内约30个标记群体的样本量。除标记珊瑚的追踪工作外，本研究还从每个物种的邻近未标记群体中采集30个珊瑚片段，用于统计每个水螅体的产卵量（即繁殖力）；同时将未标记群体的珊瑚片段带回实验室，收集产卵后的卵粒以测定其大小与能量含量。此外，研究团队在多个年度于研究样地开展调查，以获取各物种的体型结构数据。每张标记群体的照片均由至少两名人员进行数字化轮廓描记，由此可评估摄影师与描图者在平面面积测量中的误差来源。针对部分物种种群，研究通过测量标记群体轮廓与邻近珊瑚接触的边缘区域，记录了它们的种间竞争互作关系。2015年初，热带气旋内森（Tropical Cyclone Nathan）的袭击导致超过300个标记群体中仅9个存活，本研究被迫中止。尽管如此，本研究产生的数据仍可为关注珊瑚种群统计学、物种共存、功能生态学以及种群、群落与生态系统模型参数化的其他研究者提供助力。