Coral oxygen and carbon isotope data for the research article "High-resolution coral oxygen and carbon isotope records reveal temperature and autotrophy dynamics in a Mediterranean climate change hotspot"

This dataset contains coral d18O, d13C, and in situ water temperature data at 15 m depth used to generate the results of the following research article: Kersting DK, Brachert TC, D'Olivo JP, Linares C, Reuning L, Riera JLl, Spreter P, Struck U, Vergotti MJ, Zinke J. High-resolution coral oxygen and carbon isotope records reveal temperature and autotrophy dynamics in a Mediterranean climate change hotspot. Limnology & Oceanography. Abstract The Mediterranean Sea is warming at a rate exceeding global average. Long-term, high-resolution data are essential for contextualizing changes within broader temporal scales, and coral skeletons provide valuable environmental archives, especially in data-sparse regions or as supplements to existing records. While coral-based reconstructions are well established in tropical settings, they remain limited in temperate areas. As the only reef-building zooxanthellate coral in the Mediterranean, Cladocora caespitosa is particularly important for expanding coral-based environmental archives in these understudied regions. Here, we present records of δ18O and δ13C in the skeletons of C. caespitosa from a global change sentinel site in NW Mediterranean. This study provides the most accurate temperature-δ18O calibration equations for C. caespitosa, including a traditional linear model and a novel exponential model that better accounts for the region’s wide seasonal temperature range. Both calibrations rely on long-term in situ water temperature data and a multi-corallite composite approach to reduce non-climatic variability. Seasonal trends in δ13C reveal, for the first time, variation in the coral’s autotrophy-heterotrophy balance, while geochemical anomalies in the skeletons signal thermal stress effects on biomineralization. Our findings establish C. caespitosa skeletons as critical archives for reconstructing anthropogenic warming and its ecological effects in the Mediterranean. This dataset is made openly available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). It allows sharing, distribution, and adaptation (including non-commercial purposes) provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source. Please include a link to the license and indicate if any changes were made. We kindly encourage proper citation if the dataset is used in publications or other works. Please cite it as: Kersting DK, Brachert TC, D'Olivo JP, Linares C, Reuning L, Riera JLl, Spreter P, Struck U, Vergotti MJ, Zinke J. High-resolution coral oxygen and carbon isotope records reveal temperature and autotrophy dynamics in a Mediterranean climate change hotspot. [Dataset]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16919113本数据集包含珊瑚δ¹⁸O、δ¹³C以及15米水深的原位水温（in situ water temperature）数据，用于生成下述研究论文的相关成果： Kersting DK、Brachert TC、D'Olivo JP、Linares C、Reuning L、Riera JLl、Spreter P、Struck U、Vergotti MJ、Zinke J. 《高分辨率珊瑚氧、碳同位素记录揭示地中海气候变化热点区域的温度与自养动态》. 《湖沼学与海洋学》（Limnology & Oceanography） 摘要 地中海的升温速率超出全球平均水平。长时序、高分辨率的环境数据是将区域气候变化置于更广泛的时间尺度背景下开展分析的关键，而珊瑚骨骼是极具价值的环境档案载体，在数据匮乏区域尤为重要，亦可作为现有观测记录的补充。尽管基于珊瑚的气候重建研究在热带海域已较为成熟，但在温带区域仍相对有限。作为地中海唯一的造礁虫黄藻共生珊瑚，丛状角孔珊瑚（Cladocora caespitosa）对于拓展这些研究不足区域的珊瑚基环境档案体系具有重要意义。 本研究报道了地中海西北部全球变化监测热点区域的丛状角孔珊瑚骨骼δ¹⁸O与δ¹³C记录。本研究构建了针对丛状角孔珊瑚的高精度温度-δ¹⁸O校准方程，包含传统线性模型与更适配本区域宽幅季节性温度区间的新型指数模型。两套校准方法均基于长期原位水温数据，并采用多珊瑚群体复合策略以降低非气候性变量带来的偏差。δ¹³C的季节变化特征首次揭示了该珊瑚的自养-异养平衡波动，而骨骼中的地球化学异常则反映了热胁迫对生物矿化作用的影响。本研究证实，丛状角孔珊瑚骨骼可作为重建地中海人为变暖及其生态效应的关键环境档案。 本数据集以知识共享署名4.0国际许可协议（Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License，CC BY 4.0）公开发布。该协议允许在注明原作者与来源的前提下进行共享、传播与改编（包括非商业用途）。请附带该许可协议的链接，并说明是否对数据集进行了修改。若将本数据集用于出版物或其他学术成果中，请务必进行恰当引用，我们对此深表感谢。引用格式如下： Kersting DK, Brachert TC, D'Olivo JP, Linares C, Reuning L, Riera JLl, Spreter P, Struck U, Vergotti MJ, Zinke J. 高分辨率珊瑚氧、碳同位素记录揭示地中海气候变化热点区域的温度与自养动态. [数据集]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16919113