Dataset: Coral tissue mortality in sand patches with vs. without sea cucumber removal in lagoonal habitat of Mo’orea, French Polynesia from June to August of 2021 (Coral Biodiversity project)

At the initiation of the experiment, sea cucumbers were removed daily (removals) or left in place (controls) for seven days to condition sand patches for subsequent coral planting, after which five A. pulchra outplants approximately 8-10 cm in length were embedded in the sediment of each patch, with % coral tissue mortality and outplant survival monitored at approximately 2-day intervals for 45 days (50 corals treatment-1, 100 corals total). The corals were initially fragmented from numerous A. pulchra thickets adjacent to our study area, individually embedded within the cutoff necks of inverted plastic bottles using Z-Spar Splash Zone epoxy​​(see 56) and screwed into upturned bottle caps attached to ~7 x 7cm pieces of metal gridded mesh that could be slid into the sediment to hold each coral upright. To prevent feeding by coral consumers, each coral was caged within 1 cm2 metal screening. Corals were embedded within their sand patches so that living basal coral tissue was in direct contact with the sediment as would occur following natural fragmentation. Every other day for 45 days, we counted sea cucumbers, maintained removal treatments, cleaned cages, and quantified A. pulchra tissue mortality in each patch.

To prevent feeding by coral consumers, each coral was caged within 1 cm2 metal screening. Corals were embedded within their sand patches so that living basal coral tissue was in direct contact with the sediment as would occur following natural fragmentation. Every other day for 45 days, we counted sea cucumbers, maintained removal treatments, cleaned cages, and quantified A. pulchra tissue mortality in each patch.