Great Barrier Reef A. aspera data files for physiology, photophysiology, and SST trajectories/offsets

This data package consists of 6 files:

(1) Source data qPCR

(2) PAM source data

(3) Source data for Figure 2 temperature offsets

(4) Yield data NPQ acclimation

(5) Raw gene expression data

(6) Zooxanthellae counts

Abstract [Related Publication]: Coral bleaching events threaten the sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Here we show that bleaching events of the past three decades have been mitigated by induced thermal tolerance of reef-building corals, and this protective mechanism is likely to be lost under near-future climate change scenarios. We show that 75% of past thermal stress events have been characterized by a temperature trajectory that subjects corals to a protective, sub-bleaching stress, before reaching temperatures that cause bleaching. Such conditions confer thermal tolerance, decreasing coral cell mortality and symbiont loss during bleaching by over 50%. We find that near-future increases in local temperature of as little as 0.5°C result in this protective mechanism being lost, which may increase the rate of degradation of the GBR.

The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

    Data Record Details
    Data record related to this publication Great Barrier Reef A. aspera data files for physiology, photophysiology, and SST trajectories/offsets
    Data Publication title Great Barrier Reef A. aspera data files for physiology, photophysiology, and SST trajectories/offsets
  • Description

    This data package consists of 6 files:

    (1) Source data qPCR

    (2) PAM source data

    (3) Source data for Figure 2 temperature offsets

    (4) Yield data NPQ acclimation

    (5) Raw gene expression data

    (6) Zooxanthellae counts

    Abstract [Related Publication]: Coral bleaching events threaten the sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Here we show that bleaching events of the past three decades have been mitigated by induced thermal tolerance of reef-building corals, and this protective mechanism is likely to be lost under near-future climate change scenarios. We show that 75% of past thermal stress events have been characterized by a temperature trajectory that subjects corals to a protective, sub-bleaching stress, before reaching temperatures that cause bleaching. Such conditions confer thermal tolerance, decreasing coral cell mortality and symbiont loss during bleaching by over 50%. We find that near-future increases in local temperature of as little as 0.5°C result in this protective mechanism being lost, which may increase the rate of degradation of the GBR.

    The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

  • Other Descriptors
    • Descriptor

      This data package consists of 6 files in MS Excel (.xlsx) format. Ainsworth, Tracy; Leggat, Bill; Ortiz, Juan Carlos; Heron, Scott (2016): Great Barrier Reef A. aspera data files for physiology, photophysiology, and SST trajectories/offsets. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3081064.v1

    • Descriptor type Full
  • Data type dataset
  • Keywords
    • coral physiology
    • climate change
    • thermal tolerance
    • Great Barrier Reef
    • ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
  • Funding source
  • Research grant(s)/Scheme name(s)
  • Research themes
    Tropical Ecosystems, Conservation and Climate Change
    FoR Codes (*)
    SEO Codes
    Specify spatial or temporal setting of the data
    Temporal (time) coverage
  • Start Date
  • End Date
  • Time Period
    Spatial (location) coverage
  • Locations
    • Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
    Data Locations
    The Data Manager is: Tracy Ainsworth
    College or Centre
    Access conditions Open: free access under license
  • Alternative access conditions
  • Data record size 6 files: 377.71 KB
  • Related publications
      Name Ainsworth, Tracy D., Heron, Scott F., Ortiz, Juan Carlos, Mumby, Peter J., Grech, Alana, Ogawa, Daisie, Eakin, C. Mark, and Leggat, William (2016) Climate change disables coral bleaching protection on the Great Barrier Reef. Science, 352 (6283). pp. 338-342.
    • URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aac7125
    • Notes
  • Related websites
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    • Notes
    Citation Ainsworth, Tracy; Leggat, William; Heron, Scott (2016): Great Barrier Reef A. aspera data files for physiology, photophysiology, and SST trajectories/offsets. James Cook University. https://research.jcu.edu.au/data/published/e81b975c7d31a9b0982ebfbf85b3a2d3