R script for: Shining a light on daytime coral spawning synchrony across oceans
Data files
Jun 09, 2025 version files 49.92 KB
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GEB_CoralSpawning_Moritz.R
49.92 KB
Jul 30, 2025 version files 22.50 KB
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GEB_CoralSpawning_Moritz.R
20.76 KB
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README.md
1.74 KB
Abstract
R script to analyse the coral spawning datasets provided on SEANOE DOI 10.17882/105886 and in Moritz et al.: 'Shining a light on daytime coral spawning synchrony across oceans', Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI 10.1111/geb.70072.
The article details the synchronous spawning patterns of Porites rus, a gonochoric coral species that spawns during the day. Spawning observations (decimal spawning start time hh.mm) were collected using a non-invasive citizen science approach between 2014 and 2023. Using two different datasets (at reef scale and at coral colony scale), the analyses provided in the R script show that depth, cumulated light, and sea surface temperature can modulate spawning start time after sunrise at different spatial scales (from single coral colonies to transoceanic scales). The differences in spawning start time for male and female colonies are also assessed. Observations and analyses allow extremely accurate predictions of P. rus spawning months, days, and time (minute-level precision) at different locations and depths in the Southern Hemisphere, facilitating future field observations and experiments. Previously underexplored, the highly effective reproductive strategy of P. rus may explain its broad distribution and persistence in stressed environments, positioning it as an invaluable model organism for studying the physiological and genetic processes driving behavioural synchrony and biological rhythms across interconnected biogeographical regions.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.cz8w9gjgs
Description of the data and file structure
Data description and datasets can be found on SEANOE DOI 10.17882/105886.
The R script GEB_CoralSpawning_Moritz.R provided on Dryad has been produced by Charlotte Moritz, CMOANA Consulting, and is related to Moritz et al., 'Shining a light on daytime coral spawning synchrony across oceans', Global Ecology and Biogeography, DOI 10.1111/geb.70072.
Files and variables
Data files related to the R script:
- site-scale coral spawning dataset (shared on SEANOE) presenting exact and approximate coral spawning start time (decimal hh.mm) at each site from 2014 to 2023.
- colony-scale spawning dataset (shared on SEANOE) presenting coral spawning start and end time (decimal hh.mm) and sex for single coral colonies tagged at different sites between 2021 and 2023.
- Light dataset (article Supplementary Material S6) presenting PAR irradiance cumulated between sunrise and colony spawning start time at each spawning date.
Further descriptions can be found on SEANOE (DOI 10.17882/105886) and in the article (DOI 10.1111/geb.70072).
Code/software
Data on SEANOE is provided as csv files. They can be read in R and analyzed using the script presented here: GEB_CoralSpawning_Moritz.R.
R version 4.4.3 was used in the script. R packages are indicated in the script.
30 July 2025 code change: additional introductory information was added in the code.
Access information
Publicly accessible locations of the data:
- SEANOE (as mentioned above)
Data was derived from the following sources:
- See article (Moritz et al., GEB)