Phase shift facilitation following cyclone disturbance on coral reefs

George Roff1, Christopher Doropoulos1,2, Mirta Zupan1,2, Alice Rogers1,3, Robert S Steneck4, Yimnang Golbuu2, Peter J Mumby1,3

1 Marine Spatial Ecology Lab, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.

2 Palau International Coral Reef Center, Koror, Palau

3Marine Spatial Ecology Lab, College of Life Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon EX4 4PS, UK.

4 Darling Marine Center, School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Walpole,ME04573, USA

Figure S1 Schematics of tiles used in caging experiments. Tiles were moulded using a mix of fine beach sand and cement at a 2:1. Black circle in the center of the tile is where the tile was mounted above the substrate on a stainless steel rod.

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Table S1Benthic cover among sites for all time periods. Categories include coral (scleractinian coral), corallines (crustose coralline algae, articulated corallines, non-crustose coralline algae), Liagora, Lobophora, other macroalgae (grouped category including low percent cover of various macroalgal genera including Halimeda, Ralfsia, Peyssonnelia and Dictyota), cyanobacteria, other invertebrates (soft corals, ascidians, sponges), turf algae and substrate (rubble, carbonate and sand).

Year / Month / Site / Coral / Corallines / Liagora / Lobophora / Other macroalgae / Cyanobacteria / Other invertebrates / Turf / Substrate
2012 / March / Lighthouse North / 77.0 ± 4.3 / 18.7 ± 3.6 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0.5 ± 0.3 / 3.8 ± 1.6 / 0
2012 / March / Ngederrak South / 68.4 ± 5.7 / 15.9 ± 5.7 / 0 / 0 / 2.3 ± 1.5 / 0 / 3.1 ± 1.1 / 10.3 ± 0.9 / 0
2012 / March / Ngederrak North / 63.8 ± 2.0 / 12.1 ± 2.9 / 0 / 0 / 0.4 ± 0.4 / 0 / 7.8 ± 1.7 / 15.9 ± 1.6 / 0
2012 / March / Lukes / 57.5 ± 2.7 / 27.4 ± 3.7 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 4.4 ± 2.1 / 10.7 ± 4.2 / 0
2012 / March / East Sheltered / 46.0 ± 6.2 / 25.0 ± 4.2 / 0 / 0 / 0.3 ± 0.3 / 0 / 7.4 ± 2.3 / 21.2 ± 2.6 / 0
2012 / March / Short Drop Off / 30.8 ± 2.4 / 15.9 ± 4.0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 20.6 ± 4.0 / 32.8 ± 5.6 / 0
Year / Month / Site / Coral / Corallines / Liagora / Lobophora / Other macroalgae / Cyanobacteria / Other invertebrates / Turf / Substrate
2013 / February / Lighthouse North / 0 / 0.2 ± 0.2 / 22.1 ± 9.0 / 0 / 0.5 ± 0.3 / 0.3 ± 0.2 / 0 / 4.2 ± 2.5 / 72.6 ± 15.5
2013 / February / Ngederrak South / 0 / 0 / 38.6 ± 2.4 / 0 / 0 / 0.2 ± 0.2 / 0 / 0 / 61.2 ± 2.6
2013 / February / Ngederrak North / 0 / 0 / 7.4 ± 4.1 / 0 / 0.4 ± 0.2 / 0.3 ± 0.2 / 0 / 1.3 ± 0.6 / 90.6 ± 3.2
2013 / February / Beluu Lukes / 0 / 0.2 ± 0.2 / 0 / 0 / 2.9 ± 1.9 / 0.8 ± 0.2 / 0 / 3.6 ±1.0 / 92.4 ± 0.4
2013 / February / East Sheltered / 73.6 ± 4.1 / 15.2 ± 2.8 / 0 / 0 / 4.0 ± 1.2 / 0 / 0 / 1.1 ± 3.2 / 5.1 ± 1.1
2013 / February / Short Drop Off / 15.1 ± 2.1 / 17.8 ± 1.1 / 0 / 0 / 0.2 ± 0.2 / 0 / 0 / 22.0 ± 3.7 / 44.9 ± 2.1
2013 / April / Lighthouse North / 0 / 4.1 ± 1.7 / 8.3 ± 2.1 / 10.9 ± 3.8 / 0.4 ± 0.3 / 0 / 0 / 49.6 ± 6.8 / 26.7 ± 12.1
2013 / April / Ngederrak South / 0 / 1.4 ± 0.5 / 4.5 ± 2.6 / 6.2 ± 3.6 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 15.8 ± 0.9 / 72.1 ± 5.7
2013 / April / Ngederrak North / 0 / 3.2 ± 1.3 / 0.3 ± 0.3 / 3.9 ± 1.6 / 2.4 ± 0.9 / 0.2 ± 0.2 / 0 / 19.9 ± 2.9 / 70.1 ± 0.9
2013 / September / Lighthouse North / 1.9 ± 0.9 / 15.6 ± 1.9 / 0 / 25.0 ± 2.2 / 0.9 ± 0.9 / 1.3 ± 0.9 / 0 / 16.1 ± 6.3 / 39.2 ± 4.9
2013 / September / Ngederrak South / 15.3± 4.8 / 6.3 ± 1.3 / 0 / 11.0 ± 4.5 / 2.7 ± 0.8 / 1.1 ± 1.1 / 0.4 ± 0.4 / 35.8 ± 5.4 / 27.4± 5.3
2013 / September / Ngederrak North / 7.8 ± 4.3 / 9.9 ± 2.7 / 0 / 9.2 ± 2.4 / 3.9 ± 0.2 / 0.3 ± 0.2 / 0 / 56.1 ± 7.8 / 12.8 ± 2.2
2013 / October / Lighthouse North / 4.6 ± 2.9 / 14.7 ± 1.4 / 0 / 18.1 ± 5.7 / 2.6 ± 0.7 / 0.7 ± 0.4 / 0 / 41.8 ± 9.8 / 17.4 ± 4.4
2013 / October / Ngederrak South / 13.1 ± 2.9 / 5.9 ± 2.9 / 0 / 17.0 ± 3.5 / 3.8 ± 1.6 / 0 / 0.2 ± 0.2 / 50.6 ± 7.7 / 9.3 ± 8.1
2013 / October / Ngederrak North / 2.9 ± 0.9 / 4.6 ± 1.9 / 0 / 8.5 ± 0.8 / 2.3 ± 0.4 / 0.1 ± 0.1 / 0.7 ± 0.6 / 72.2 ± 6.3 / 8.7 ± 4.8
Year / Month / Site / Coral / Corallines / Liagora / Lobophora / Other macroalgae / Cyanobacteria / Other invertebrates / Turf / Substrate
2014 / April / Lighthouse North / 0.4 ± 0.4 / 8.0 ± 2.6 / 0 / 41.6± 5.8 / 2.5 ± 2.0 / 2.9 ± 1.5 / 0.1 ± 0.1 / 32.2 ± 1.7 / 12.4 ± 5.0
2014 / April / Ngederrak South / 12.3 ± 6.5 / 6.1 ± 3.0 / 0 / 28.4 ± 11.0 / 4.6 ± 2.0 / 11.3 ± 10.3 / 0.2 ± 0.2 / 26.3 ± 8.0 / 10.9 ± 6.7
2014 / April / Ngederrak North / 9.8 ± 1.8 / 4.8 ± 3.2 / 0 / 12.3 ± 2.6 / 1.6 ± 0.9 / 6.3 ± 2.2 / 0.4 ± 0.2 / 55.7 ± 6.8 / 9.2 ± 1.8
2014 / April / Lukes / 5.2 ± 2.8 / 26.5 ± 10.9 / 0 / 0 / 0.8 ± 0.5 / 2.3 ± 1.3 / 1.8 ± 1.1 / 31.8 ± 13.7 / 31.7 ± 27.6
2014 / April / East Sheltered / 65.2 ± 1.2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 9.7 ± 2.9 / 0.1 ± 0,1 / 0.7 ± 0.5 / 2.0 ± 1.4 / 22.4 ± 3
2014 / April / Short Drop Off / 18.5 ± 5.8 / 11.6 ± 6.0 / 0 / 0 / 1.0 ± 1.0 / 0 / 19.3 ± 7.0 / 8.3 ± 4.8 / 41.5 ± 7.9
2014 / October / Lighthouse North / 2.3 ± 0.7 / 9.1 ± 4.4 / 0 / 36.7 ± 7.0 / 1.7 ± 0.4 / 2.1 ± 0.5 / 1.3 ± 0.7 / 36.7 ± 1.0 / 10.1 ± 5.1
2014 / October / Ngederrak South / 15.5 ± 9.2 / 6.6 ± 2.8 / 0 / 27.4 ± 6.8 / 5.1 ± 1.9 / 2.9 ± 2.6 / 0.7 ± 0.4 / 35.2 ± 7.8 / 6.5 ± 1.2
2014 / October / Ngederrak North / 15.3 ± 9.6 / 9.6 ± 3.5 / 0 / 22.5 ± 6.7 / 2.0 ± 0.4 / 0 / 0.8 ± 0.4 / 40.9 ± 11.5 / 8.8 ± 4.5

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