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Microherbivore grazing RRAP CAD2-2 experiment

Created 23/06/2025

Updated 23/06/2025

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These data were collected for an RRAP CAD2-2 experiment looking at the effects of microherbivore grazing on captive coral recruit grow-out. Coral recruits of six species (Acropora millepora, Acropora kenti (formally A. tenuis, referred to as such in the data), Goniastrea retiformis, Porites lobata, Dispastrea speciosa and Lobophyllia corymbosa) were grown under one of seven treatments: an un-grazed control (Control), manual cleaning of algae around corals by an aquarist (Aquarist), culture with 30 juvenile Tripneustes gratilla sea urchins (Tripneustes), 30 juvenile Echinometra mathaei sea urchins (Echinometra), 30 Calthalotia strigata gastropods (Calthalotia), 30 Turbo haynesi gastropods (Turbo) or 15 Clibanarius cf. taeniatus hermit crabs (Clibanarius), for 112 days, with four replicate 50L tanks per treatment. Tanks walls and the floor around the coral tray (and the tray itself in the aquarist treatment) were cleaned twice weekly, with the time taken to clean each tank recorded to the nearest minute. High resolution photographs where taken of corals and the substrate every two weeks. From these photos, survival was assessed on a fortnightly basis, and growth of the corals from day 0 to day 112 measured by calculating the change in benthic surface area of each recruit using ImageJ software. Composition of algae assemblages on the tiles was assessed at day 0, 56 and 112 using seven coral-free surfaces in each tank. Composition was assessed using CoralCPE software, which applied 20 random points to each coral-free surface, which could then be categorised into different substrate classes (turf, crustose coralline algae, bare tile etc) to assess approximate proportional coverage of these different classes. At the end of the 112 days, counts and size measurements of remaining microherbivores were also taken. Note: due to low settlement of Lobophyllia corymbosa, this coral was only included in the Control, Tripneustes and Calthalotia treatment.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Microherbivore grazing RRAP CAD2-2 experiment
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/9f9f1936-a748-4e39-8e24-9d12f88d5cb7
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
reception@aims.gov.au
Reference Period 23/04/2024
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    147.055778503418,
    -19.266100285620677
  ],
  "type": "Point"
}
Data Portal data.gov.au

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on data.gov.au "Microherbivore grazing RRAP CAD2-2 experiment". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/microherbivore-grazing-rrap-cad2-2-experiment