DOI: 10.5061/dryad.cz8w9gjgs
title: R script for: Shining a light on daytime coral spawning synchrony across oceans

description: R script to analyse the coral spawning datasets provided on SEANOE DOI
 10.17882/105886 and in Moritz et al.: 'Shining a light on daytime
 coral spawning synchrony across oceans', Global Ecology and
 Biogeography DOI 10.1111/geb.70072. The article details the synchronous
 spawning patterns of Porites rus, a gonochoric coral species that spawns
 during the day. Spawning observations (decimal spawning start time hh.mm)
 were collected using a non-invasive citizen science approach between 2014
 and 2023. Using two different datasets (at reef scale and at coral colony
 scale), the analyses provided in the R script show that depth, cumulated
 light, and sea surface temperature can modulate spawning start time after
 sunrise at different spatial scales (from single coral colonies to
 transoceanic scales). The differences in spawning start time for male and
 female colonies are also assessed. Observations and analyses allow
 extremely accurate predictions of P. rus spawning months, days, and time
 (minute-level precision) at different locations and depths in the Southern
 Hemisphere, facilitating future field observations and experiments.
 Previously underexplored, the highly effective reproductive strategy of P.
 rus may explain its broad distribution and persistence in stressed
 environments, positioning it as an invaluable model organism for studying
 the physiological and genetic processes driving behavioural synchrony and
 biological rhythms across interconnected biogeographical regions.
description: # R script for: Shining a light on daytime coral spawning synchrony across
 oceans Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.cz8w9gjgs](10.5061/dryad.cz8w9gjgs) ##
 Description of the data and file structure Data description and datasets
 can be found on SEANOE DOI 10.17882/105886. The R script
 GEB_CoralSpawning_Moritz.R provided on Dryad has been produced by
 Charlotte Moritz, CMOANA Consulting, and is related to Moritz et al.,
 'Shining a light on daytime coral spawning synchrony across
 oceans', Global Ecology and Biogeography, DOI 10.1111/geb.70072. ###
 Files and variables Data files related to the R script: * site-scale coral
 spawning dataset (shared on SEANOE) presenting exact and approximate coral
 spawning start time (decimal hh.mm) at each site from 2014 to 2023. *
 colony-scale spawning dataset (shared on SEANOE) presenting coral spawning
 start and end time (decimal hh.mm) and sex for single coral colonies
 tagged at different sites between 2021 and 2023. * Light dataset (article
 Supplementary Material S6) presenting PAR irradiance cumulated between
 sunrise and colony spawning start time at each spawning date. Further
 descriptions can be found on SEANOE (DOI 10.17882/105886) and in the
 article (DOI 10.1111/geb.70072). ## Code/software Data on SEANOE is
 provided as csv files. They can be read in R and analyzed using the script
 presented here: GEB_CoralSpawning_Moritz.R. R version 4.4.3 was used in
 the script. R packages are indicated in the script. 30 July 2025 code
 change: additional introductory information was added in the code. ##
 Access information Publicly accessible locations of the data: * SEANOE (as
 mentioned above) Data was derived from the following sources: * See
 article (Moritz et al., GEB)