Temperature regimes and Coral response parameters of the artificial upwelling experiment

In this study, we investigated the effect of simulated artificial upwelling with deep water off Bermuda collected at 50 m (24°C) and 100 m (20°C) on coral symbiont biology of 3 coral species (Montastraea cavernosa, Porites astreoides, and Pseudodiploria strigosa) in a temperature stress experiment. The following treatments were applied over a period of 3 weeks: (i) control at 28°C (ii) heat at 31°C, (iii) heat at 31°C deep water from 50 m depth, and (iv) heat at 31°C deep water from 100 m depth. Artificial upwelling was simulated over a period of 25 min on a daily basis resulting in a reduction of temperature for 2 h per day.

A total of 4 data sets are available: 2 data sets comprise the coral response parameters (i) zooxanthellae densities, chlorophyll-a concentration and (ii) net photosynthetic rates of each replicate, and the other 2 data sets include the temperature data measured throughout the experiment (iii) in all treatments and (iv) in the artificial upwelling treatment only.