Lauchstedt, Andreas; Pandolfi, John M; Kiessling, Wolfgang (2017): Towards a new paleotemperature proxy from reef coral occurrences, link to supplementary materialx [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.879342,

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Supplement to: Lauchstedt, A et al. (2017): Towards a new paleotemperature proxy from reef coral occurrences. Scientific Reports, 7(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-10961-3

Global mean temperature is thought to have exceeded that of today during the last interglacial episode (LIG, ~125,000 yrs BP) but robust paleoclimate data are still rare in low latitudes. Occurrence data of tropical reef corals may provide new proxies of low latitude sea-surface temperatures. Using modern reef coral distributions we developed a geographically explicit model of sea surface temperatures. Applying this model to coral occurrence data of the LIG provides a latitudinal U-shaped pattern of temperature anomalies with cooler than modern temperatures around the equator and warmer subtropical climes. Our results agree with previously published estimates of LIG temperatures and suggest a poleward broadening of the habitable zone for reef corals during the LIG.

The data consists of an excel file containing 10 sheets.

Abbreviations in the spreadsheet labels:

- OBIS = data from the Oceanic Biogeographic Information System (http://www.iobis.org/)

- PBDB = data from the Paleobiology Database (https://paleobiodb.org/)

- Data labelled "raw_data" is taxonomically corrected raw data.

- Data labelled either species or genus level "perc. data" are percentage data showing the proportions of either a species or a genus in a 1° longitude/latitude grid cell. The column labelled "cell number" indicates the position of the cell in a 1° longitude/latitude worldwide grid, starting at -180° (=180°W) / 90° (=90°N) and comprising 64800 grid cells in total.

- Data labelled either species or genus level "count data" are number of occurrences of either a species or a genus in a 1° longitude/latitude grid cell.

Despite raw data, all other data is limited to grid cells where at least one occurrence is present.