DOI: 10.5061/dryad.931zcrjw2
title: Data for: Benthic drivers of structural complexity in coral reefs across a tropical-subtropical transition zone

description: This study examines changes in structural complexity of coral reefs in a
 tropical-subtropical transition zone and identifies the benthic factors
 influencing their patterns. Structure-from-motion photogrammetry was used
 to create digital elevation models (DEMs) and generate orthomosaic images
 for 25 study sites distributed across five coral reef regions along the
 east coast of Taiwan. A selection of 11 complexity metrics was used to
 capture the overall variations while the benthic composition was
 described. It was found that finescale complexity decreases with
 increasing latitude as the dominance of intricate coral morphologies is
 replaced by plain zoanthids and crustose coralline algae. Coarse-scale
 complexity, on the other hand, increases in subtropical reefs with large
 boulders and unstable substrates, reflecting unique topographic features
 in regions of lower coral cover and accretion. Latitudinal variation in
 complexity is mostly driven by the turnover in benthic composition. These
 changes alter the available habitats and could ultimately affect the
 overall biodiversity and functionality of reef systems. Understanding
 transitional patterns is particularly important as ocean warming may lead
 to a reorganization of existing benthic communities in
 tropical-subtropical transition zones.
description: A detailed description of data acquisition and processing can be
 found in the published manuscript in Frontiers in Marine Science (https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1513498)
description: # Data for: Benthic drivers of structural complexity in coral reefs across
 a tropical-subtropical transition zone This README file was generated on
 2024/10/18 by Meng-Hsin Morris Wu
 ([tapewormwu@gmail.com](mailto:tapewormwu@gmail.com)). 1. **Date of data
 collection:** 2023 2. **Geographic location of data collection:**
 southern, eastern, and northern Taiwan, the West Pacific 3. **Funding
 sources that supported the collection of the data:** Ocean Conservation
 Administration of Taiwan, Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan 4.
 **Recommended citation for this dataset:** Wu, Meng-Hsin Morris;
 Ribas-Deulofeu, Lauriane; Liu, Chia-Hung Eric; Nozawa, Yoko; Denis,
 Vianney (2025) Data from: Benthic drivers of structural complexity in
 coral reefs across a tropical-subtropical transition zone [Dataset].
 Dryad. [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.931zcrjw2](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.931zcrjw2). Dataset is available in [Dryad](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.931zcrjw2). The dataset and the R script are also available through the GitHub repository [https://github.com/NTU-FRELab/complexity-drivers.git](https://github.com/NTU-FRELab/complexity-drivers.git) in order to replicate our analyses. ***DESCRIPTION OF THE DATA AND FILE STRUCTURE*** --- **DATA & FILE OVERVIEW** *1. Description of dataset* These data were generated to express structural complexity and the composition of benthic communities over plots across tropical-subtropical transition in Taiwan. *2. File list* There are four spreadsheets in the folder **Data**. File 1 complexity_metrics.csv; File 1 description: Complexity metrics of each site. File 2 composition_substrates.csv; File 2 description: Benthic composition of each site. File 3 coordinates.xlsx; File 3 description: The longitude and latitude of each site. File 4 model_quality.xlsx; File 4 description: Quality of the 3D models reconstructed from sites. ***METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION*** A detailed description of data acquisition and processing can be found in the published manuscript in Frontiers in Marine Science ([https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1513498](https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1513498)). **DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION** *complexity_metrics.csv* 1. Number of variables/columns: 25 2. Number of cases/rows: 25 3. Missing data codes: None 4. Variable List * Column A: Abbreviated site names. The full site name corresponding to the abbreviation is described as below. | Acronym in complexity\_metrics.csv | Full site name | | ---------------------------------- | -------------- | | 82.5 | 82.5K | | BT | Bitou | | CCG | GreenGrassland | | CJ | Chaojing | | CK | Chaikou | | DaBS | Dabaisha | | DC | Dongchin | | DiBS | Dinbaisha | | FNL | Fenniaolin | | GGB | Gongguanbi | | GW | Guiwan | | HBH | Houbihu | | HR | HenRock | | HS | Hsinshe | | JH | Jihui | | JLS | Jialeshui | | JMZ | Jiamuziwan | | JQ | Jiqi | | LD | Longdong | | LDS | Leidashih | | MYS | Meiyenshan | | SL | Shihlang | | TL | TwoLins | | TS | Tiaoshih | | YY | Yayo | * Column B - S4: Value of S - 4 cm at each site. * Column C - T4: Value of TRI - 4 cm at each site. * Column D - V4: Value of VRM - 4 cm at each site. * Column E - S32: Value of S - 32 cm at each site. * Column F - T32: Value of TRI - 32 cm at each site. * Column G - V32: Value of VRM - 32 cm at each site. * Column H - PROC4: Value of PROC - 4 cm at each site. * Column I - PLC4: Value of PLC - 4 cm at each site. * Column J - PROC32: Value of PROC - 32 cm at each site. * Column K - PLC32: Value of PLC - 32 cm at each site. * Column L - S16: Value of S - 16 cm at each site. * Column M - T16: Value of TRI - 16 cm at each site. * Column N - V16: Value of VRM - 16 cm at each site. * Column O - PROC16: Value of PROC - 16 cm at each site. * Column P - PLC16: Value of PLC - 16 cm at each site. * Column Q - D64: Value of D (1 - 64 cm) at each site. * Column R - SC: Value of SC at each site. * Column S - D1_2: Value of D (1 - 2 cm) at each site. * Column T - D2_4: Value of D (2 - 4 cm) at each site. * Column U - D4_8: Value of D (4 - 8 cm) at each site. * Column V - D8_16: Value of D (8 - 16 cm) at each site. * Column W - D16_32: Value of D (16 - 32 cm) at each site. * Column X - D32_64: Value of D (32 - 64 cm) at each site. * Column Y - VRSD: Value of Sq at each site. * Column Z - region: The region where each site nests in. Abbreviation used: | Region abbreviation in complexity\_metrics.csv | Full regional name | | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | | KT | Kenting | | LY | Lanyu | | LD | Ludao | | EC | East Coast | | NC | North Coast | *composition_substrates.csv* 1. Number of variables/columns: 32 2. Number of cases/rows: 26 3. Missing data codes: None 4. Variable List * Column A - site: Abbreviated site names. * Column B - region: Abbreviated regional names. * Column C - actinia: Relative benthic cover of sea anemone (AN) at each site. * Column D - hcarb: Relative benthic cover of arborescent hard corals (Arborescent HC) at each site. * Column E - hcbus: Relative benthic cover of bushy hard corals (Bushy HC) at each site. * Column F - hccol: Relative benthic cover of columnar hard corals (Columnar HC) at each site. * Column G - hcenc: Relative benthic cover of encrusting hard corals (Encrusting HC) at each site. * Column H - hcfol: Relative benthic cover of foliose hard corals (Foliose HC) at each site. * Column I - hcmas: Relative benthic cover of massive hard corals (Massive HC) at each site. * Column J - hctab: Relative benthic cover of tabular hard corals (Tabular HC) at each site. * Column K - ocdig: Relative benthic cover of digitate octocorals (Digitate OC) at each site. * Column L - oclob: Relative benthic cover of lobate octocorals (Lobate oc) at each site. * Column M - ocmas: Relative benthic cover of massive octocorals (Massive OC) at each site. * Column N - tws: Relative benthic cover of marine debris (MD) at each site. * Column O - fil: Relative benthic cover of turfs (TU) at each site. * Column P - ocbus: Relative benthic cover of bushy octocorals (Bushy OC) at each site. * Column Q - ascidian: Relative benthic cover of ascidian (AS) at each site. * Column R - ocfan: Relative benthic cover of fan-liked octocorals (Fan-liked OC) at each site. * Column S - zoaenc: Relative benthic cover of encrusting zoanthids (Encrusting ZO) at each site. * Column T - spoglo: Relative benthic cover of globular sponges (Globular SP) at each site. * Column U - spomas: Relative benthic cover of massive sponges (Massive SP) at each site. * Column V - zoamas: Relative benthic cover of massive zoanthids (Massive ZO) at each site. * Column W - occlu: Relative benthic cover of clustered octocorals (Clustered OC) at each site. * Column X - ocenc: Relative benthic cover of encrusting octocorals (Encrusting OC) at each site. * Column Y - other: Relative benthic cover of motil life (OL) at each site. * Column Z - sporep: Relative benthic cover of repent sponges (Repent SP) at each site. * Column AA - spopap: Relative benthic cover of papillate sponges (Repent SP) at each site. * Column AB - coeenc: Relative benthic cover of corallimorpharian (CO) at each site. * Column AC - cru_or_spoenc: Relative benthic cover of crustose coralline algae (CCA) at each site. * Column AD - bss: Relative benthic cover of bare stable substrate (BSS) at each site. * Column AE - ma: Relative benthic cover of macroalgae (MA) at each site. * Column AF - us: Relative benthic cover of unstable substrates (US) at each site. *coordinates.xlsx* 1. Number of variables/columns: 3 2. Number of cases/rows: 26 3. Missing data codes: None 4. Variable List * Column A - Site: Abbreviated site names. * Column B - Lat: Latitude of each site. * Column C - Long: Longitude each site. *model_quality.xlsx* 1. Number of variables/columns: 6 2. Number of cases/rows: 26 3. Missing data codes: None 4. Variable List * Column A - site: Abbreviated site names. * Column B - images: Number of images used in 3D reconstruction at each site. * Column C - Res_mm: Pixel size of orthomosaic and Digital Elevated Model (DEM) of each site. Millimeter is the default unit. * Column D - Reproj_Error: The reprojection error in 3D reconstruction of each site. Pixel is the default unit. * Column E - Cont_Error: The control error in 3D reconstruction of each site. Pixel is the default unit. * Column F - PLA: The planar area orthomosaic and DEM cover at each site. Square meter is the default unit.