READ ME File For Dataset supporting the publication "Reef-building corals farm and feed on their photosynthetic symbionts". Dataset DOI: 10.5258/SOTON/D2696 Date that the file was created: August, 2023 ------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------- ReadMe Author: Dr. Cecilia D'Angelo, University of Southampton Date of data collection: 2018-2022 Geographic location of data collection: Southampton: Experiments with corals under controlled conditions were performed in the Coral Laboratory at the European Campus, University of Southampton. Chagos Archipelago: Uninhabited islands in the northern atolls of the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean Related projects: NERC (NE/T001364/1) -------------------------- SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION -------------------------- Licenses/restrictions placed on the data, or limitations of reuse: Creative Common Licence CC-BY Recommended citation for the data: Data from Wiedenmann et al (2023) Reef-building corals farm and feed on their photosynthetic symbionts. Nature doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06442-5 This dataset supports the publication: AUTHORS:Jörg Wiedenmann, Cecilia D’Angelo, M. Loreto Mardones, Shona Moore, Cassandra E. Benkwitt, Nicholas A.J. Graham, Bastian Hambach, Paul A. Wilson, James Vanstone; Gal Eyal, Or Ben-Zvi, Yossi Loya, Amatzia Genin TITLE:Reef-building corals farm and feed on their photosynthetic symbionts JOURNAL: Nature PAPER DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06442-5 -------------------- DATA & FILE OVERVIEW -------------------- This dataset contains: All the raw data used in the paper cited above, organised within five worksheets in an excel file: Wiedenmann et al_Repository.xlsx Worksheets are labelled as: - Coral growth_10 species - Mean Grey Value_Calibration - N15 enrichment experiments - N-P acquisition - Chagos N15 and Growth Data -------------------------- METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION -------------------------- Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: All experimental conditions maintenance and monitoring protocols of experimental corals are described in the methods section of from Wiedenmann et al (2023) Reef-building corals farm and feed on their photosynthetic symbionts. Nature doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06442-5. Methods for processing the data: All data processing is detailed in Wiedenmann et al (2023) Reef-building corals farm and feed on their photosynthetic symbionts. Nature doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06442-5. Software- or Instrument-specific information needed to interpret the data, including software and hardware version numbers: n/a People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: Jörg Wiedenmann, Cecilia D’Angelo, M. Loreto Mardones, Shona Moore, Cassandra E. Benkwitt, Nicholas A.J. Graham, Bastian Hambach, Paul A. Wilson, James Vanstone -------------------------- DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION -------------------------- - Coral growth_10 species Number of variables: 3 Number of cases/rows: 11 Species, 7-10 replicate colonies / species, number of rows: 2256 Variable list, defining any abbreviations, units of measure, codes or symbols used: Weight (mg) [Wet weight of corals expressed in milligrams] MGV [Mean Grey Value: determined for the whole visible area of every coral using the polygon tool in FIJI/ImageJ] Area (cm2) [visible surface area of each coral colony was determined from standardised photographs using the polygon tool in FIJI/ImageJ, expressed in squared centimeters] Missing data codes: empty cells correspond to missing data Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: Sp. is the abbreviation for "Coral Species" - Mean Grey Value_Calibration Number of variables: 3 Number of cases/rows: 4 Species, 7-9 replicate colonies / species Variable list, defining any abbreviations, units of measure, codes or symbols used: MGV [Mean Grey Value: determined for the whole visible area of every coral using the polygon tool in FIJI/ImageJ] Total symbont (cells): Number of symbiotic cells in the the coral colony. Area (cm2) [visible surface area of each coral colony was determined from standardised photographs using the polygon tool in FIJI/ImageJ, expressed in squared centimeters] Missing data codes: n/a Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: Sp. is the abbreviation for "Coral Species" - N15 enrichment experiments Number of variables: 10 Number of cases/rows: 4 Species, 7-9 replicate colonies / species. Variable list, defining any abbreviations, units of measure, codes or symbols used: Total symbiont (cells): Number of symbiotic cells in the the coral colony. Area (cm2) [visible surface area of each coral colony was determined from standardised photographs using the polygon tool in FIJI/ImageJ, expressed in squared centimeters. Total N (mg): Total nitrogen content in the symbiont cells or in the host animal cells in each coral colony, determined at the start and at the end of the experiments. Total P (mg): Total phosphorus content in the symbiont cells or in the host animal cells in each coral colony, determined at the start and at the end of the experiments. δ¹⁵N (‰): Atom % of the sample was calculated using At% = [Rs / (Rs + 1) * 100] where Rs is the ratio of the light isotope to the heavy isotope of the sample. Total nitrate (phosphate): Concentration of nitrate or phosphate in the water. Missing data codes: empty cells correspond to missing data Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: The genus name of each coral species was abbreviated as follows: A. polystoma: Acropora polystoma S. pistillata: Stylophora pistillata E. paradivisa: Euphyllia paradivisa µmol/L: micro moles per litre. - N-P acquisition Number of variables: 10 Number of cases/rows: 3-4 Species, 4-10 replicate colonies / species. Variable list, defining any abbreviations, units of measure, codes or symbols used: Mitotic Index (%): Number of symbiotic cells in the the coral colony. Area (cm2) [visible surface area of each coral colony was determined from standardised photographs using the polygon tool in FIJI/ImageJ, expressed in squared centimeters] Total N (mg): Total nitrogen content in the symbiont cells or in the host animal cells in each coral colony, determined at the start and at the end of the experiments. Total P (mg): Total phosphorus content in the symbiont cells or in the host animal cells in each coral colony, determined at the start and at the end of the experiments. Concentration (cells/ul): Concentration of symbiont cells in each sample. Total cells expulsed in 24h: Measured number of symbiont cells after one day incubation experiments. Missing data codes: empty cells correspond to missing data Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: The genus name of each coral species was abbreviated as follows: A. polystoma: Acropora polystoma S. pistillata: Stylophora pistillata M. foliosa: Montipora foliosa M. capricornis: Montipora capricornis Cells/ul: cells per microliter - Chagos N15 and Growth Data Number of cases/rows: 2 Geographic locations in the Chagos Archipelago: Islands with nesting birds / Islands without nesting birds; 3 years of coral growth data. Samples analysed: Coral host tissue, coral symbiont cells, zooplankton, guano, macro algae Variable list, defining any abbreviations, units of measure, codes or symbols used: δ¹⁵N: Proportion of 15N isotope present in each of the different samples analysed. Δ Growth Surface Difference: Change in planar area (cm2/day) was calculated for each colony as the difference between the new surface area and the previous surface area divided by the number of days between measurements. Missing data codes: n/a Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: Δ Growth Surface Difference: Change in planar area (cm2/day)