We conducted a long-term (6 months) multiple driver aquarium experiment under future environmental conditions at St Abbs Marine Station (UK) with the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa (syn. Desmophyllum pertusum) sampled from Tisler Reef (Skagerrak). The experiment with live corals consisted of four different treatments to investigate the combined effect of ocean acidification, warming, deoxygenation and food limitation on their physiology: 1) control (9 °C, pH 8.1, 100 % oxygen, 100 % food availability), 2) multiple stressor with high feeding (12 °C, pH 7.7, 90 % oxygen, 100 % food availability), 3) multiple stressor with low feeding (12 °C, pH 7.7, 90 % oxygen, 50 % food availability) and 4) reduced oxygen (9 °C, pH 8.1, 90 % oxygen, 100 % food availability). Every treatment consisted of three replicate tanks with four live corals (treatments 1-4). The physiological parameters were determined after 1.5, 3, 4.5 and 6 months of the experiment. Growth rates were measured using the buoyant weighing technique (Jokiel et al. 1978) and respiration rates were conducted using closed-cell incubations.

This dataset covers only the first 6 months of the experiment. Updated versions of the related datasets covering the entire 12-month experimental period are published (2025) and available for preferred reuse and are referenced here.