In this repository you'll find all raw data as well as the code we used to process these for our paper Increasing microplastic concentrations have nonlinear impacts on the physiology of reef-building corals.
(I) We investigated the concentration-dependent effects of the MP mixture on the physiology of the coral host (i.e., growth rates of tissue area and volume, calcification, necrosis, and polyp activity) and the photosynthetic efficiency of the photosymbionts (i.e., effective quantum yield, the maximum quantum yield, relative electron transport rate, minimum saturating irradiance, and efficiency of light capture). (II) We analyzed the dose-response relationships to determine whether they follow linear or more complex patterns.
For the statistical assessment and data visualization we used the statistical R Project for Statistical Computing Software together with the graphical user interface RStudio.
Sampling timepoints are referred to as: t0 - before the addition of microplastics t1 - 4 weeks after the addition of microplastics t2 - 8 weeks after the addition of microplastics t3 - 12 weeks after the addition of microplastics
Used coral species are referred to as: Pve - Pocillopora verrucosa Spi - Stylophora pistillata
Used microplastic polymers: PE - black polyethylene fragments PVC - grey polyvinyl chloride fragments PS - beige polystyrene fragments PP - red polypropylene fibers PET - blue polyester fibers PA - yellow polyamide fibers
Used microplastic concentrations: control - 0 mg/L low pollution - 0.1 mg/L moderate pollution - 1 mg/L high pollution - 10 mg/L extreme pollution - 100 mg/L