Data description
The percent of images classified as barrens showed a general increase through time for all sites (Fig. 2). There were distinct differences in the percent barrens at each site, with these differences being maintained through time. The Governor Island reserve (all transects pooled at each time step) always had a lower observed percentage of barrens when compared to any of the reference sites, with less than one percent of images being classified as barrens habitat in any year. For the reference sites, Cape Lodi consistently had the highest percent barrens through time, followed by Trap Reef and Butlers Point.