DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d2547d89b
title: Data from: Rapid shift in benthic assemblages following coral bleaching at an upper mesophotic habitat in Taiwan

description: Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; typically, 30–150 m depths)
 have traditionally been considered potential refuges for shallow-water
 organisms, but recent evidence suggests that this role is
 context-dependent. Here, we document a singular habitat at the upper
 mesophotic depth (- 30 m) in Xiaoliuqiu, Taiwan, and assess the
 changes in the benthic assemblage one year after a heatwave affected the
 reefs. In the habitat studied, abundant branching
 depth-specialist corals were found free-living and thriving on the
 sandy-rubble bottom amidst dense filamentous turf algae. In 2022, 63.6% of
 the corals were observed bleached, which was associated with severe heat
 stress affecting shallow reefs. The dominant coral at the
 time, Acropora tenella, suffered the most from the bleaching,
 with only 9.7% of its population remaining healthy. After one year, there
 was a noticeable shift in dominance from A. tenella to
 the previously cryptic Anacropora spp. without an
 obvious change in coral cover. We hypothesize that this rapid shift is
 driven by Anacropora spp., benefiting from the dense
 canopy provided by A. tenella. This suggests that the composition
 of understory organisms may play an important role in the resilience of
 some reefs affected by disturbance. The characteristics of this habitat,
 which consists mainly of deep-water specialists, and its susceptibility to
 stressors indicate that this habitat is unlikely to serve as a refuge for
 most shallow-water taxa. Our findings reinforce that the effectiveness of
 MCEs as refuges is not universal, and emphasize the importance of
 incorporating these unique habitats into conservation strategies and
 gaining a deeper understanding of their functions before they are lost.
description: Full details on sample collection and analyses are available in
 the published manuscript.
description: # Data from: Rapid shift in benthic assemblages following coral bleaching
 at an upper mesophotic habitat in Taiwan --- This README.md was generated
 on 2024-06-13 by Yuting Vicky Lin
 ([vicky.linyuting@gmail.com](mailto:vicky.linyuting@gmail.com)). 1.
 **Author Information** * First author * Name: Dr. Yuting Vicky Lin *
 Institution: Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei
 10617, Taiwan * Second author * Name: Yanyu Leonie Chen * Institution:
 Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617,
 Taiwan * Third author * Name: Dr. Stéphane De Palmas * Institution:
 Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617,
 Taiwan * Fourth author * Name: Dr. Rodrigo Carballo-Bolaños * Institution:
 Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617,
 Taiwan * Fifth author * Name: Msc. Arnaud Guerbet * Institution: Institute
 of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan * Sixth
 author * Name: Dr. Lauriane Ribas-Deulofeu * Institution: Institute of
 Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan & Ocean
 Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan * Seventh author *
 Name: Chiajung Berrica Tsai * Institution: Institute of Oceanography,
 National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan * Eighth author * Name:
 Msc. Yi Wei * Institution: Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan
 University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan * Nineth & corresponding author *
 Name: Dr Vianney Denis * Institution: Institute of Oceanography, National
 Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan & Ocean Center, National
 Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan * Email:
 [vianneydenis@ntu.edu.tw](mailto:vianneydenis@ntu.edu.tw) 2. **Date of
 data collection**: 2022-2023 3. **Geographic location of data
 collection**: Taiwan, West Pacific 4. **Funding sources that supported the
 collection of the data**: National Science and Technology Council of
 Taiwan, Ocean Conservation Administration of Taiwan 5. **Recommended
 citation for this dataset** Lin YV, Chen YL, De Palmas S, Carballo-Bolaños
 R, Guerbet A, Ribas-Deulofeu L, Tsai CB, Wei Y, Denis V (2024) Data from:
 Rapid shift in benthic assemblages following coral bleaching at an upper
 mesophotic habitat in Taiwan, Dryad, Dataset,
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d2547d89b](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d2547d89b) \[Data and R script are also available through the GitHub repository [https://github.com/NTU-FRELab/bleaching-mesophotic](https://github.com/NTU-FRELab/bleaching-mesophotic) in order to replicate our analyses] ## DESCRIPTION OF THE DATA AND FILE STRUCTURE ### DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. **Description of dataset** These data were used to analyze the shift in benthic assemblages following coral bleaching at an upper mesophotic habitat in Xiaoliuqiu, Taiwan 2. **File List** File 1: Linetal_dataset_Benthic.csv: benthic and bleaching annotated points of the 6 sampling transects in 2022 and 2023, respectively File 2: Linetal_dataset_dhw_5km_XLQ.nc: daily sea surface temperature, bleaching alert and degree heating week data in Venice, Xiaoliuqiu in 2022 and 2023, respectively File 3: Linetal_dataset_TWN_adm0.shp, .cpg, .dbf, .prj, .shx: a shapefile of Taiwan map used to generate Figure 1b ### METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION A detailed description of data acquisition and processing can be found in the published manuscript in Marine Biodiversity ([https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-024-01445-5](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-024-01445-5)) #### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION ##### **Linetal\_dataset\_Benthic.csv** 1. Number of variables/columns: 10 2. Number of cases/rows: 46 3. Missing data codes None 4. Variable List * Column A - Major_cate * Column B - Label * Column C - Bleached_status * Column D - 2022_T1 * Column E – 2022_T2 * Column F – 2022_T3 * Column G – 2023_T1 * Column H – 2023_T2 * Column I – 2023_T3 5. Descriptions This file has benthic and bleaching annotated points of the 6 transects sampled from 2022 and 2023, respectively. Only stony and soft corals have bleaching status. Abbreviations used for variables are as below: 1: Major_cate: Major category 2: Label: for corals, the label contains the information of species identity and its morphology; for the other major categories, the label contains the information of species identity 6. CCA: crustose coralline algae ##### **Linetal\_dataset\_dhw\_5km\_XLQ.nc** 1. Latitude: 22.325; Longitude: 120.375 2. Time: 2022/1/1 - 2023/12/31 3. Missing data codes None 4. Variable: CRW_SST, CRW_DHW, CRW_BAA 5. Descriptions This .nc file has the daily sea surface temperature, bleaching alert and degree heating week data in Venice, Xiaoliuqiu from 2022 to 2023, and was used to generate Figure 2. Abbreviations used for variables are as below: 1: CRW_SST: daily sea surface temperature 2: CRW_DHW: degree heating week 6. CRW_BAA: bleaching alert ##### **Linetal\_dataset\_TWN\_adm0.shp, .cpg, .dbf, .prj, .shx** 1. Geometry type: MULTIPOLYGON 2. Spatial boundary: latitude - 116.71 to 122.1085; longitude - 20.6975 to 25.63431 3. Missing data codes None 4. Spatial reference: WGS 84 5. Descriptions This shapefile contains spatial polygons within the specified spatial boundary, which is used for generating the map of our sampling site, Xiaoliuqiu, Taiwan. ## Usage notes R and QGIS can be used to view Linetal_dataset_TWN_adm0.shp. Linetal_dataset_TWN_adm0.cpg, Linetal_dataset_TWN_adm0.dbf, Linetal_dataset_TWN_adm0.prj, and Linetal_dataset_TWN_adm0.shx are the companion files for Linetal_dataset_TWN_adm0.shp that can not be opened individually but are part of the shapefile data. Microsoft Excel can be used to view Linetal_dataset_Benthic.csv.