| Processing Steps |
- Parameter or Variable: region (measured); Units: Character; Observation Category: other; Sampling Instrument: NA
- Parameter or Variable: site (measured); Units: Character; Observation Category: other; Sampling Instrument: NA
- Parameter or Variable: date (measured); Units: YYYY-MM-DD; Observation Category: other; Sampling Instrument: NA
- Parameter or Variable: transect (measured); Units: NA; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: NA; Data Quality Method: Variable is a unique number for a transect nested within a given survey site and region
- Parameter or Variable: depth_m (measured); Units: meters; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: Dive computer; Data Quality Method: Depth of the transect survey measured by observers dive computers. Transects were placed parallel to the reef structure across a similar depth profile throughout.
- Parameter or Variable: colony_id (measured); Units: NA; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: NA; Data Quality Method: A unique coral colony id for each observed coral colony across the entire dataset.
- Parameter or Variable: coral_species (measured); Units: Character; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: Trained observers; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Coral colonies were identified in situ to species in most cases. For branching Porites spp. they were identified to the genus (noted as Branching Porites spp), and some Agaricia spp. were identified to the genus if an observer was not confident in the species.
- Parameter or Variable: col_size (measured); Units: centimeter; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: ruler or PVC pipe marked with size bins; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Coral colonies were measured in situ where colony size is the diameter (maximum width) for all colonies ≥3 cm.; Data Quality Method: In Florida, coral abundance was low, so we directly measured each colony in situ to the nearest cm. In other regions, the higher abundance of colonies made directly measuring each colony impractical. In Panamá, we recorded colony diameter in bins of 3 to <5, 5 to <10, 10 to <20, 20 to <40, 40 to <80, and ≥80 cm. In St. Croix and Bonaire, some sites had a high abundance of small coral colonies. In these regions, we recorded colonies with a diameter <20 cm using the same size bins as in Panamá, but measured colonies ≥20 cm to the nearest cm.
- Parameter or Variable: l_cm (measured); Units: centimeter; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: ruler; Sampling and Analyzing Method: We measured the maximum coral colony length (based on a bird's eye view, similar to the perspective of a photoquadrat) and the perpendicular width. NA values indicate corals where direct measurements were not taken and size is recorded in size bins only.
- Parameter or Variable: w_cm (measured); Units: centimeter; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: ruler; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Colony width. Either length or width denote the (maximum) diameter of the colony, while the other value is perpendicular to the diameter–it may not always consistent which value (length or width) is the maximum. NA values indicate corals where direct measurements were not taken and size is recorded in size bins only.
- Parameter or Variable: percent_live (measured); Units: percent; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Visually estimated percent live coral tissue per colony; Data Quality Method: Values are estimated to the nearest 5%
- Parameter or Variable: percent_col_inside (measured); Units: percent; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The estimated percentage of the coral colony that fell within the transect bounds (30 x 1 m); Data Quality Method: Values are estimated to the nearest 5%
- Parameter or Variable: col_area_cm2 (calculated); Units: square centimeters; Observation Category: model output; Sampling Instrument: computer; Sampling and Analyzing Method: For all coral species for which we had direct measurements, we calculated colony surface area (SA) based on the area of an oval: SA=π((Max.diameter)/2)x((Perpendicular width)/2)x((% live coral tissue)/100)x((% colony in transect)/100) To estimate the surface area of corals within size bins, we calculated the mean surface area of each coral taxa and size class from colonies for which we had direct measurements.
- Parameter or Variable: n_scars (measured); Units: whole number; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The visually estimated number of total parrotfish predation scars per colony recorded by trained observers. This included recent scars and slightly older scars that observers felt could still be reliably attributed to parrotfishes. We defined an individual scar as one contiguous lesion (i.e., if a paired bite from a parrotfish left two scars with a space of living coral tissue dividing them this was considered two scars as they are two seperate coral lesions)
- Parameter or Variable: percent_new (measured); Units: percent; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The visually estimated percentage of parrotfish predation scars that were recent (i.e., no signs of healing at the scar perimeter or fouling of the coral skeleton by turfing algae or cyanobacteria within the scar area, which typically occur within a few days after a scar is inflicted)
- Parameter or Variable: n_new_scars (calculated); Units: whole number; Observation Category: model output; Sampling Instrument: computer; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The calculated number of new scars determined based on the total n_scars per colony and the percent_new
- Parameter or Variable: scar_min_mm2 (measured); Units: square millimeters; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The visually estimated surface area of the smallest observed scar per coral colony with predation scars. For coral colonies with 0-1 scars this variable is NA.
- Parameter or Variable: scar_max_mm2 (measured); Units: square millimeters; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The visually estimated surface area of the largest observed scar per coral colony with predation scars. For coral colonies with 0-1 scars this variable is NA.
- Parameter or Variable: scar_med_mm2 (measured); Units: square millimeters; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The visually estimated surface area of the median observed scar per coral colony with predation scars. For coral colonies with 0 or 2 scars this variable is NA (where if there are two scars they are recorded as the min and max scar size).
- Parameter or Variable: total_grazed_cm2 (calculated); Units: square centimeters; Observation Category: model output; Sampling Instrument: computer; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The total coral colony surface area grazed, based on the estimated total area of recent parrotfish predation scars. While most colonies had few scars, some had >100 and it was not practical to measure each scar. Therefore, for colonies with >3 scars, we measured the visually estimated minimum, median, and maximum scars to estimate approximate scar size distributions. We used these size estimates and scar abundance to interpolate scar size distributions based on a normal distribution centered on the median and bounded by the minimum and maximum scar size, as scar sizes distribute approximately normally overall in a region (Rempel et al. 2020). See related publication for further details and the related code used to perform this scar size interpolation is available at (https://github.com/hannahrempel/ecological_drivers_corallivory, see 'Interpolating scar size' script).
- Parameter or Variable: survey_l_m (measured); Units: meters; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: transect tape or GPS; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Length of the fish survey transect in meters.
- Parameter or Variable: survey_w_m (measured); Units: meters; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: The width of the fish survey transect in meters, estimated visually by the observer using a PVC 'T-bar' as a size reference.
- Parameter or Variable: species (measured); Units: Character; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual observation; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Parrotfish species latin name recorded by the observer. For transects with no fish this is noted as 'No major corallivores' in this column.
- Parameter or Variable: phase (measured); Units: Character; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual observation; Sampling and Analyzing Method: IP=initial phase, TP=terminal phase, NA=used in transects where no parrotfishes were observed. Parrotfishes are protogynous hermaphrodites that are for most species sexually dimorphic. They are classified as initial phase (IP) or terminal phase (TP) as a small portion of IP individuals are not always female, and some apparent TP individuals may be internally female as external color change often occurs prior to internal change in reproductive organs.
- Parameter or Variable: size_cm (measured); Units: centimeter; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Fish fork length in centimeters by trained observers. In St. Croix, Florida, and Bonaire size is recorded to the nearest cm, while in Panama fish are recorded in 5 cm bins.; Data Quality Method: Most surveys were conducted by the same observer in a region. Whenever possible, observers trained together to ensure that their estimates of fish fork length were within 1 cm of each other or when this was not possible they practiced estimating fish and checking their estimates until they calibrated estimates to the nearest cm.
- Parameter or Variable: count (measured); Units: whole number; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: visual estimate; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Observed number of individuals of a given species, phase and fork length per transect.
- Parameter or Variable: a (calculated); Units: numeric; Observation Category: other; Sampling Instrument: NA; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Fish 'a' values used for length-weight conversions.; Data Quality Method: Values are from Fishbase (for Scarus vetula) or for all other fish are from Bohnsack J.A. and D.E. Harper 1988. Length-weight relationships of selected marine reef fishes from the southeastern United States and the Caribbean. NOAA Tech. Mem. NMFS-SEFC-215:31 p. For Sp. viride and Sc. taeniopterus, there were multiple length-weight conversion values from different sampling locations (Bohnsack and Harper 1988), so we selected the values with an R2 >0.85 from the region with highest sample size. For Sc. vetula, we used FishBase Bayesian length-weight relationship estimates from species with a similar body plan (Froese et al. 2014).
- Parameter or Variable: b (measured); Units: numeric; Observation Category: other; Sampling Instrument: NA; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Fish 'b' values used for length-weight conversions.; Data Quality Method: Values are from Fishbase (for Scarus vetula) or for all other fish are from Bohnsack J.A. and D.E. Harper 1988. Length-weight relationships of selected marine reef fishes from the southeastern United States and the Caribbean. NOAA Tech. Mem. NMFS-SEFC-215:31 p. For Sp. viride and Sc. taeniopterus, there were multiple length-weight conversion values from different sampling locations (Bohnsack and Harper 1988), so we selected the values with an R2 >0.85 from the region with highest sample size. For Sc. vetula, we used FishBase Bayesian length-weight relationship estimates from species with a similar body plan (Froese et al. 2014)
- Parameter or Variable: size_cm_est (measured); Units: centimeter; Observation Category: model output; Sampling Instrument: computer or visual observation; Sampling and Analyzing Method: As fish from Panama were measured in 5cm bins while all others were recorded to the nearest cm we estimated the average fish size from Panama as the midpoint for each size bin (e.g., for 15-20 the estimated value is 17.5).
- Parameter or Variable: weight_g (measured); Units: gram; Observation Category: model output; Sampling Instrument: computer; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Calculated fish weight based on length-weight scaling relationships calculated using fish length and reported a b values.
- Parameter or Variable: latitude_DD (measured); Units: decimal degree; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: GPS; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Study site latitude recorded by observers using a GPS.
- Parameter or Variable: longitude_DD (measured); Units: decimal degree; Observation Category: in situ; Sampling Instrument: GPS; Sampling and Analyzing Method: Study site longitude recorded by observers using a GPS.
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