overview_benthic_cover.xlsx

Benthic survey data taken near the abiotic monitoring stations in two inland bays and two nearby fringing reefs.

To describe the benthic cover at the four sites, surveys were conducted in March 2020 using continuous line transects to characterize the immediate area surrounding the abiotic monitoring stations which housed loggers and passive samplers (see below). Given the large area of the inland bays, the measured benthic cover is representative of the monitoring area, not the bays as a whole. At each site, six 9.9 m transects were randomly placed up to 50 m away from the cement block with environmental data loggers. Photos of the benthic community adjacent to the transect line were taken every 20 cm using a high-resolution camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ70), and the benthic cover directly next to/underneath the transect line was recorded every 1 cm in Excel. A total of eleven categories were identified to describe the benthic community: hard coral, soft coral, seagrass, macroalgae, soft sediment, rubble, hard substrate, upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.), sea urchin (Diadema sp.), invertebrates, and other. Diadema sp. and Cassiopea sp. were analysed as separate categories and not included in the “invertebrates” category as these organisms may have important ecological functions associated with coral development or influence physicochemical conditions (Edmunds and Carpenter, 2001; Welsh et al., 2009). Scleractinian corals were identified to species level when possible as they are understudied in the bays (but see Debrot et al., 1998; Vermeij et al., 2007).