The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coral Reef Ecosystems Studies project (https://coastal.er.usgs.gov/crest/) provides science that helps resource managers tasked with the stewardship of coral reef resources. This data release contains data on coral-growth rates and time-series photographs taken of colonies of the mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides, grown at four sites on the Florida Keys reef tract from Spring 2015 to Spring 2017. The data will be used to inform resource managers on the spatial and ...

Coral reefs around the world have degraded over the last half-century as evidenced by loss of live coral cover. This ubiquitous observation led to the establishment of long-term, ecological monitoring programs in several regions with sizable coral-reef resources. As part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis working group "Local-scale ecosystem resilience amid global-scale ocean change: the coral reef example," scientists gathered resultant data from four ...