Kimura, Lucas Yutaka; Gomez, Rickdane; Nakamura, Takashi: Coral bleaching severity and benthic community data from seven reef sites around Okinawa Island in February 2026 and repeated monitoring at Chinazaki from 2023 to 2026 [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.996233 (dataset in review)
Abstract:
This data collection comprises two complementary datasets describing coral bleaching severity and benthic community composition around Okinawa Island, southern Japan. The first dataset was collected in February 2026 at seven fringing reef sites. At each site, surveys were conducted in shallow reef zones at 2–3 m depth and deep reef zones at 8–11 m depth using five replicate 20 m transects per depth zone. Benthic observations were recorded at 0.25 m intervals along each transect. At each observation point, benthic substrate was classified, and scleractinian corals were identified to genus. Coral colony morphology and bleaching severity were also recorded. The second dataset contains repeated observations collected at a permanent monitoring site at Chinazaki, on the southeastern coast of Okinawa Island, from July 2023 to February 2026. The same transect-based photographic survey method was used to document temporal changes in benthic substrate composition, coral taxonomic composition, colony morphology, and bleaching severity. Together, these datasets were collected to quantify spatial variation in coral bleaching and benthic community composition among reef sites and depth zones and to document temporal changes in coral bleaching severity associated with the late-season bleaching event observed in 2025.
Related to:
Kimura, Lucas Yutaka; Gomez, Rickdane; Nakamura, Takashi (in press): Prolonged thermal stress drives unprecedented coral bleaching beyond the typical summer period in Okinawa Island, Japan. Marine Ecology Progress Series
Funding:
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 26.319609 * Median Longitude: 127.865215 * South-bound Latitude: 26.187094 * West-bound Longitude: 127.745211 * North-bound Latitude: 26.712536 * East-bound Longitude: 128.156775
Date/Time Start: 2023-07-21T01:10:00 * Date/Time End: 2026-02-25T02:25:00
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) (License comes into effect after moratorium ends)
Size:
2 datasets
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Datasets listed in this publication series
- Kimura, LY; Gomez, R; Nakamura, T (in review): Repeated point-intercept benthic survey data collected at Chinazaki from July 2023 to February 2026. https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.996231
- Kimura, LY; Gomez, R; Nakamura, T (in review): Okinawa Island-wide coral bleaching survey in February 2026. https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.996229