Dataset: Coral and Algal Stable Isotope Data

Large-scale oceanographic processes shape the dynamics of coral reef ecosystems and influence their future survival under climate change. In the central Pacific Ocean, high ocean temperatures associated with the strong El Niño event in 2015-16 led to widespread coral bleaching and mortality. This El Niño also altered the flow of major ocean current, which led to anomalously high upwelling on Palmyra Atoll. This corresponded with lower than expected coral mortality given the magnitude of thermal stress and observed levels of bleaching. Here we combined multi-year collections of coral and macroalgae on Palmyra to illustrate how this reef system responded to a major shift in ocean conditions during an El Niño. This data set includes coral and macroalgal stable isotope data collected between 2012 and 2017 on Palmyra Atoll. The coral data include d13C and d15N bulk stable isotope values from Pocillopora meandrina coral host and endosymbiont tissues collected at 10m depth on Palmyra's fore reef slope during 2012, 2014, and 2015. Macroalgal d15N values are provided from Halimeda opuntia from 2012 and 2014-2017.