DOI: 10.5061/dryad.v41ns1s7w
title: Data from: The rainbow connection: the case for including substrate colour in the ‘eco-engineering’ of marine constructions

description: The urbanisation of the world’s coastlines is replacing diverse natural
 substrates with grey concrete. The changing shoreline colourscape may
 potentially influence colonisation of marine surfaces, by influencing
 settlement patterns and predator-prey interactions, but is overlooked in
 the design of marine structures for ecological co-benefits. This study
 assessed how manipulating the colour of concrete influenced benthic
 community development on intertidal seawalls in Sydney Harbour, Australia,
 when fin-fish predators had access to panels or were excluded by cages.
 Four colours were compared at high and low intertidal elevations of two
 sites: grey (the colour of concrete); red and yellow (the colours of
 natural Sydney sandstone rock) and green (the colour of algal biofilms).
 Red substrate developed distinct ecological communities compared to
 yellow, green and grey substrates, with many taxa positively associated
 with red. Effects of colour were greater in the low than the high
 intertidal, reflecting the greater number of colonising species on which
 colour could act.  Effects were generally similar across caged
 and open surfaces, consistent with effects of colour on settlement
 preferences rather than predation effects. Contrary to the hypothesis that
 effects would diminish through time with declining bare space with which
 colonists could interact, the colour effect persisted for the duration of
 the 12-month study.  Synthesis and applications. Our results show
 that in the low intertidal, colour can shape sessile community assembly on
 concrete surfaces over time scales of at least 12 months. Consequently,
 alongside the habitat complexity and material type of marine built
 structures, colour warrants consideration in the development of
 eco-friendly designs. The colour of marine built structures is easily
 manipulated, for example through the addition of non-toxic oxides to
 concrete as done here.
description: # The rainbow connection: the case for including substrate colour in the
 ‘eco-engineering’ of marine constructions Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.v41ns1s7w](10.5061/dryad.v41ns1s7w) ## Description of the
 data and file structure ### Files and variables #### Files: 6weeks.csv,
 3months.csv, 6months.csv, 12months.csv **Description:** Data on the
 abundance of sessile and mobile taxa present 6 weeks, and 3, 6 and 12
 months post-deployment for different panel colours (colour; grey, yellow,
 red, green), sites (Site; KP=Kurraba Point, MM= McMahons Point),
 intertidal heights (height, H=high and L=low) and cage treatments
 (treatment; open, half and cage). For 6weeks, columns 'Barnacle'
 through to 'Ulva' are sessile species and are expressed as
 percent covers. At 6weeks, columns Siphonaria_funiculata and to the right
 are mobile species and are counts per panel. For 3months, 6months,
 12months, columns Amphibalanus_amphitrite through
 to Watersipora_subtorquata are for sessile species and are expressed as
 percent covers. For 3months the column 'Siphonaria_denticulata'
 and to the right are mobile species and are counts per panel. For 6months
 and 12months the column 'Amphipod' and to the right are mobile
 species and are counts per panel. sessile_richness = the total number of
 sessile species found on each panel;  mobile_richness = the total number
 of mobile species found on a panel;  total_richness = the total number of
 species found on each panel; cover = the total percent cover of sessile
 species on a panel (may exceed 100 as primary [directly attached to panel]
 and secondary [attached to primary] cover were summed and sessile species
 present but not falling underneath an intersection point were given a
 value of 1% cover to denote their presence). Where sections of panels were
 lost through cracking, 'cover' was calculated based only on the
 area of panel remaining. missing = the percent area of a panel that was
 missing due to the panel cracking and a section breaking off. bare = the
 percent cover of a panel that is free of sessile species (note, cover and
 bare may not always sum to zero if some of the cover is secondary). Where
 sections of panels were lost through cracking, 'bare' was
 calculated based only on the area of panel remaining. #### **File:
 Kurraba_Thermodata.csv** Description: Summary of temperature measurements
 (degrees Celsius) for panels at Kurraba Point of different panel colour
 (colour; grey, yellow, red, green), intertidal height (height, High and
 Low) and cage treatment (treatment; open and cage).  #### File: Fish.csv
 **Description:** Counts of fish species recorded by each of 11 cameras
 (labelled A to K) at each site (Site; KP=Kurraba Point, MM= McMahons
 Point) on each of two dates (date, dd/mm/yyyy) Guild = feeding guild of
 fish #### File: final_panelcolours.xlsx **Description:** Spectral data of
 the different colour panels (grey, green, yellow and red), showing the
 spectral reflectance (as a %) at each nanometer (nm) step.