Coral Colony Area in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary from 2015-01-01 to 2023-04-30 (NCEI Accession 0280384)

Vital rate data on individual colonies of Orbicella franksi were collected in both East and West Flower Garden Banks from 2011 through 2015. Empirical data were obtained from Maher et al. (2018) in which a total of 121 randomly selected O. franksi coral colonies were photographed for five years (2011–2015), and planar projections were drawn digitally and recorded as a representation of colony area (cm2). These empirical data were used to estimate annual growth rates of various sized coral colonies. While coral populations at these reefs are relatively stable and free from disease, in the summer of 2016 a coral mortality event affected parts of East FGB. This disturbance was driven by the effects of floodwaters reaching the area, in conjunction with localized upwelling, ultimately leading to hypoxia (Johnston et al., 2019b, 2019a; Kealoha et al., 2020; Shore et al., 2021; Wright et al. 2019; Doyle et al. 2022).