The Relative Composition of Late Pleistocene Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys

Frequently anticipated questions:

• What does this data set describe?
  1. How might this data set be cited?
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
• Who produced the data set?
  1. Who are the originators of the data set?
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
• Why was the data set created?
• How was the data set created?
  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
• How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the data, including topology?
• How can someone get a copy of the data set?
  1. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
  2. Who distributes the data?
  3. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  4. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
  5. How can I download or order the data?
• Who wrote the metadata?

What does this data set describe?

1. How might this data set be cited?
   Toth, Lauren T., 20250317, The Relative Composition of Late Pleistocene Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys:.

   This is part of the following larger work.
   Toth, Lauren T., Stathakopoulos, Anastasios, Hsia, Scarlette, and Weinstein, David, 20250317, The Relative Composition of Late Pleistocene Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys: U.S. Geological Survey data release doi:10.5066/P13IZY8R, U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg, FL.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.5066/P13IZY8R

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -82.8408
   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -80.1423
   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 25.3707
   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 24.4348
   

3. What does it look like?
4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

   Calendar_Date: 03-Mar-2025

   Currentness_Reference:

   publication date

5. What is the general form of this data set?

   Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: tabular digital data
   

6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
   1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Point data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • Point (73)
   2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.0001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.0001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees. The horizontal datum used is World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84).
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257223563.
      

      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:

      Depth_System_Definition:

      Depth_Datum_Name: Mean sea level
      Depth_Resolution: 0.1
      Depth_Distance_Units: meters
      Depth_Encoding_Method: Attribute values
      

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

   Detailed entity and attribute descriptions for the data file Late_Pleistocene_coral_reef_relative_composition (.xlsx and .csv), are detailed in a data dictionary (Data_Dictionary_Late_Pleistocene_coral_reef_relative_composition.docx). These metadata are not complete without this file, and users should refer to the data dictionary when viewing the data file.

   Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:

   The entity and attribute information were generated by the individual and/or agency identified as the originator of the dataset. Please review the rest of the metadata record for additional details and information.

Who produced the data set?

1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
   • Lauren T. Toth
2. Who also contributed to the data set?
3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
   Lauren T. Toth

   U.S. Geological Survey

   Research Physical Scientist

   600 4th Street South

   St. Petersburg, FL
   

   727-502-8029 (voice)

   ltoth@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

How was the data set created?

1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

   Date: 2024 (process 1 of 2)

   Quantifying MIS5c-a Coral Reef Composition: Following the methods described in Toth and Stathakopoulos (2019), USGS researchers analyzed the composition of the Late Pleistocene (~116 to ~74 thousand years before present; Marine Isotope Stage 5d-a) of 31 reef cores through digital analysis of high-resolution, photographic core logs (provided in Toth and others, 2018). The late Pleistocene age of the intervals was confirmed through radiometric dating by Hsia and others (2024a,b) as described in Toth and others (2025). USGS researchers (Toth and Stathakopoulos) identified all visible material in the core photographs including corals, unconsolidated sediments, and consolidated carbonate reef rock, using the physical core records for reference. All coral taxa were identified to the species level whenever possible, using the Corals of the World taxonomic list as reference (https://www.coralsoftheworld.org). However, some corals were combined into broader taxonomic groups. Agaricia and Millepora spp., which were all rare in these records, were only identified to the genus level. Porites astreoides was always identified to the species level, but the other western Atlantic Porites spp.—P. porites, P. divaricata, and P. furcata—were grouped as “branching Porites spp.”. Orbicella annularis, O. faveolata, and O. franksi were all classified as “Orbicella spp.” because of difficulty in distinguishing fine-scale differences in the morphology of this group. Corals that were too taphonomically degraded or too small to be confidently identified to even the genus level were categorized as “unidentified coral species”. USGS researchers quantified the abundance of each coral taxon as well as unconsolidated sediment and carbonate reef rock by using the Area Analysis Tool in the program Coral Point Count (CPCe; Kohler and Gill, 2006) to digitally trace the projected surface area of all material in the core photographs. These data were used to calculate the percent composition of all core constituents within 66 recovered intervals of the 31 cores. The individual depth intervals were defined based on core penetration depths indicated in the core boxes by the researchers who collected the cores (Toth and others, 2018). For each interval, the relative percent composition of all coral taxa were calculated by dividing the area represented by each individual coral taxa in an interval by the total area of all coral taxa in that interval. Total (absolute) percentage recovery within each interval was also estimated by dividing the total measured areas of an interval by a theoretical interval area, calculated as the product of its recorded length and digital measurements of its projected width as described in Toth and Stathakopoulos (2019) and Toth and others (2019).

   Date: 2024 (process 2 of 2)

   Quantifying Composition of the MIS5e Coral Reef at Windley Key: These data were originally collected from quarried areas of the subaerially exposed Key Largo Limestone at Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological Park (24.9492, -80.5961) by Weinstein. Briefly, compositional features of the Key Largo Limestone were identified along seven, 10-meter (m) transects placed parallel to the ground at randomly selected heights (0.6–1.7 m) along exposed walls of the quarry. The length of each textural feature along each transect, including corals, was recorded. However, in the original study, corals were only identified to the genus level. USGS researchers (Toth and Stathakopoulos) used photographs taken during the surveys to verify and refine the coral species identifications (using Corals of the World for reference). This data release provides the relative percent composition of all coral taxa and total non-coral carbonates identified on the transects.

3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
   Toth, Lauren T., Stathakopoulos, Anastasios, Hsia, Scarlette, and Weinstein, David, 2025, Shifting baselines of coral-reef species composition from the Late Pleistocene to the present in the Florida Keys: The Depositional Record Shinn Special Issue, Wiley, Online.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.1002/dep2.70009

   Toth, Lauren T., and Stathakopoulos, Anastasios, 20190521, The absolute and relative composition of Holocene reef cores from the Florida Keys Reef Tract: U.S. Geological Survey data release doi:10.5066/P93XXXA0, U.S. Geological Survey - St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, Florida.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.5066/P93XXXA0

   Toth, Lauren T., Stathakopoulos, Anastasios, Kuffner, Ilsa B., Ruzicka, Rob R., Colella, Michael A., and Shinn, Eugene A., 20190606, The unprecedented loss of Florida's reef-building corals and the emergence of a novel coral-reef assemblage: Ecology Volume 100, Issue 9, Wiley, Online.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2781

   Williams, Breanna N., Schreppel, Heather A., Reich, Christopher D., Smith, Kathryn, Tiling-Range, Ginger, Stalk, Chelsea A., Douglas, Steven, Dadisman, Shawn V., Flocks, James G., Toth, Lauren T., and Stathakopoulos, Anastasios, 20130725, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center's geologic core and sample database: Esri, ArcGIS Online.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.5066/F7319TR3

   Hsia, Scarlette, Toth, Lauren T., Mortlock, Richard, and Kerans, Charles, 20240723, Re-evaluating Marine Isotope Stage 5a paleo-sea-level trends from across the Florida Keys reef tract: Quaternary Science Advances Volume 15, Elsevier BV, Online.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qsa.2024.100222

   Other_Citation_Details: 2024a
   

   Hsia, Scarlette, Toth, Lauren T., Mortlock, Richard A., Stathakopoulos, Anastasios, and Kerans, Charles, 20240621, U-series ages and elevation data of Late Pleistocene corals From the Florida Keys: U.S. Geological Survey data release doi:10.5066/P9EJBYKZ, U.S. Geological Survey - St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, Florida.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.5066/P9EJBYKZ

   Other_Citation_Details: 2024b
   

   Toth, Lauren T., Stathakopoulos, Anastasios, and Kuffner, Ilsa B., 20180426, Descriptive core logs, core photographs, radiocarbon ages, and accretion data from Holocene reef cores collected throughout the Florida Keys reef tract: U.S. Geological Survey data release doi:10.5066/F7NV9HJX, U.S. Geological Survey - St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, Florida.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.5066/F7NV9HJX

   Kohler, Kevin E., and Gill, Shaun M., 20060228, Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe): A Visual Basic program for the determination of coral and substrate coverage using random point count methodology: Computers & Geosciences Volume 32, Issue 9, Elsevier, Online.

   Online Links:

   • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2005.11.009

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

1. How well have the observations been checked?
   No formal attribute accuracy tests were conducted; however, all species identifications were independently verified by L.T. Toth and A. Stathakopoulos and aligned with the Corals of the World taxonomic list (https://www.coralsoftheworld.org).
2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
   No formal positional accuracy tests were conducted. The horizontal coordinates were collected in the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS 84) coordinate system.
3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
   No formal positional accuracy tests were conducted. The vertical positions were collected in the mean sea level coordinate system.
4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
   The data set is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the rest of the metadata record carefully for additional details.
5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
   No formal logical accuracy tests were conducted.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
   
   USGS SPCMSC Data Management

   U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

   600 4th Street South

   St. Petersburg, FL
   

   USA

   (727) 502-8000 (voice)

   gs-g-spcmsc_data_inquiries@usgs.gov
2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Late_Pleistocene_coral_reef_relative_composition.csv, Late_Pleistocene_coral_reef_relative_composition.xlsx, Data_Dictionary_Late_Pleistocene_coral_reef_relative_composition.docx
3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
   Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
4. How can I download or order the data?
   • Availability in digital form:

     Data format:	comma-delimited text, Microsoft Excel format, Microsoft Word format
     Network links:	https://coastal.er.usgs.gov/data-release/doi-P13IZY8R/data/Late_Pleistocene_coral_reef_relative_composition.zip

   • Cost to order the data: None

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:

Last modified: 17-Mar-2025

Metadata author:

USGS SPCMSC Data Management

U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

600 4th Street South

St. Petersburg, FL

USA

(727) 502-8000 (voice)

gs-g-spcmsc_data_inquiries@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:

Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)