DOI: 10.5061/dryad.wh70rxwxg
title: Data from: Predicting the distribution of Mesophotic coral ecosystems in the Chagos Archipelago

description: To support conservation efforts, accurate mapping of marine organism
 community’ distribution has become more critical than ever before. While
 previous mapping endeavours have primarily focused on easily accessible
 shallow-water habitats, there remains limited knowledge about the
 ecosystems lying beyond SCUBA diving depths, such as mesophotic coral
 ecosystems (MCEs, ~30-150 m). MCEs are important habitats from an
 ecological and conservation perspective, yet little is known about the
 environmental factors that shape these ecosystems and their distribution,
 particularly in the Indian Ocean region. The goals of this study are to 1)
 predict the spatial distribution and extent of distinct benthic
 communities and MCEs in the Chagos Archipelago, central Indian Ocean, 2)
 test the effectiveness of a range of environmental and topography derived
 variables to predict the location of MCEs around Egmont Atoll and the
 Archipelago, and 3) independently validate the models produced. In
 addition, we compared the MCEs predicted extent in the Archipelago for the
 models derived from high-resolution multibeam and low-resolution GEBCO
 bathymetry data. Using maximum entropy modelling, all models resulted in
 excellent (&gt;0.9) performances, for AUC and threshold-dependent
 metrics, predicting extensive and previously undocumented MCEs across the
 entire Archipelago, with however, differences in the predicted extent
 between the high- and low-resolution models. Independent validation
 resulted in fair (&gt;0.7 AUC) and poor (&gt;0.6 AUC) performances
 for the high-resolution and low-resolution models, respectively.
 Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), temperature, chlorophyll-a and
 topographically derived variables were identified as the most influential
 predictors. In conclusion, this study provides the first prediction of the
 distribution of MCEs and their distinct benthic communities in the
 Archipelago. It highlights their significance in terms of potential extent
 and response to various environmental factors, supporting decision making
 for prioritising future survey sites to study MCEs across the Archipelago
 and targeting ecologically important areas for conservation.
description: # Data from: Predicting the distribution of Mesophotic coral ecosystems in
 the Chagos Archipelago ## Description of the data and file structure
 Dataset “Data_for_modelling” for the Maxent model used in the manuscript
 entitled “Predicting the distribution of Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems in
 the central Indian Ocean” ### Files and variables #### File:
 Data\_for\_modelling.xlsx **Description:** Data for modelling * each sheet
 is for a cluster ##### Variables Environmental parameters of each cluster
 identified with a Hierarchical clustering with a similarity profile
 (SIMPROF) permutational test (1-6) and a mesophotic coral ecosystems
 (MCEs) cluster. Grid_code: presence (1), absence (0) POINT_X; POINT_Y:
 latitude and longitude in Good Homolosine Ocean Transect_names: transect
 code given: e.g. 23110: site 2, transect 3, depth zone 110-120m. Bathy:
 bathymetry in meters BBPI; FBPI: broad- fine-scale bathymetry position
 index Chla: chlorophyll a in milligram/m3 PAR: photosynthetically active
 radiation in *μmol* photons.m2.s1 Sal: salinity in PSU Rugosity: or
 ruggedness, obtained from mutlibeam data Slope: slope, obtained from
 multibeam data Temp_min, mean, max: temperature minimal, average and
 maximal over 4 years, in degrees Celsius Temp_delta: difference in
 temperature between the minimum and maximum, in degrees Celsius For
 further information, please read the detailed "methods" section
 of the main manuscript or visit the supplementary information of the
 manuscript. You can additionally contact
 [clara.diaz@plymouth.ac.uk](mailto:clara.diaz@plymouth.ac.uk) /
 [clara.diaz97466@gmail.com](mailto:clara.diaz97466@gmail.com) ##
 Code/software R was used to generate this dataset. Please see the methods
 section of the manuscript for more information. ## Access information
 Other publicly accessible locations of the data: *
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbcs8](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbcs8)  Data was derived from the following sources: * please see the Methods section of the manuscript