Lesion frequencies and sizes after fish feces treatment on coral samples collected on the north shore of Mo’orea, French Polynesia, Oct 2020 to Jun 2021

Abstract

This datafile contains frequencies and sizes (number of polyps killed) developed in coral tissues after the application and removal of fish feces to test whether fish from different guilds affect coral health in distinct ways.There were five treatments: fresh feces from a corallivorous butterflyfish (FC); fresh feces from a grazer/detritivore (FG); sterilized feces from a corallivorous butterflyfish (SC); sterilized feces from a grazer/detritivore (SG); no-feces control (C). For the fresh feces treatments (FC, FG), we applied 100 µl of fresh feces isolated from the hindgut of the butterflyfish Chaetodon ornatissimus (FC) or the grazer/detritivore Ctenochaetus striatus (FG) directly onto each coral fragment. For the sterilized feces treatments (SC, SG), fecal pellets were sterilized in a pressure cooker for 40 minutes at 120°C and then applied in the same manner as fresh feces. The experiment ran for ~22 hours. The experiment was conducted in three iterations in Mo'orea, French Polynesia, over two years (2020, 2021).

For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/933832