In order to functionally classify reef communities along German coasts, we have collected species lists of reefs censused, quality-controlled the identification of about 800 benthic species and assigned them functional traits. Functional classification was done according to the concept proposed earlier (Wahl 2009, Franz et al. 2021). The combination of the 5-7 functional traits defined the functional group a given taxonomic unit belongs to. Based on functional groups instead of taxonomic units (i.e. species) we will calculate the functional diversity (richness of functional groups) and functional redundnacy (number of species in single functional groups) of the 150+ reefs censused to date. Functional diversity describes the number of different trait combinations present in a reef and, consequently, the grain size of ecosystem functioning. Functional redundancy is a proxy for the functional robustness in a reef, i.e. the probability that a given trait combination persists after the disappearance of a single member (i.e. species) of this functional group.

The data files contain species list including taxonomic identy, functional traits, functional groups, reef characteristics and sampling information. The associated metadata sheet informs about the meaning of the column heads.