Young fishes persist despite coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef
| Autor: | David R. Bellwood, Sterling B. Tebbett, Robert P. Streit, Sharon Wismer |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Coral bleaching Ecosystem ecology Coral Population Dynamics Medicine (miscellaneous) Ecological extinction Extinction Biological 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Article General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Animals Acropora 14. Life underwater lcsh:QH301-705.5 Reef Ecosystem geography geography.geographical_feature_category biology Obligate Coral Reefs Ecology 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Climate-change ecology fungi Fishes technology industry and agriculture social sciences biochemical phenomena metabolism and nutrition Anthozoa Tropical ecology biology.organism_classification Pomacentrus moluccensis lcsh:Biology (General) Habitat population characteristics General Agricultural and Biological Sciences geographic locations |
| Zdroj: | Communications Biology Communications Biology, Vol 2, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2019) |
| ISSN: | 2399-3642 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s42003-019-0703-0 |
| Popis: | Unprecedented global bleaching events have led to extensive loss of corals. This is expected to lead to extensive losses of obligate coral-dependent fishes. Here, we use a novel, spatially-matched census approach to examine the nature of fish-coral dependency across two mass coral bleaching events. Despite a >40% loss of coral cover, and the ecological extinction of functionally important habitat-providing Acropora corals, we show that populations of obligate coral-dependent fishes, including Pomacentrus moluccensis, persisted and – critically – recruitment was maintained. Fishes used a wide range of alternate reef habitats, including other coral genera and dead coral substrata. Labile habitat associations of ‘obligate’ coral-dependent fishes suggest that recruitment may be sustained on future reefs that lack Acropora, following devastating climatic disturbances. This persistence without Acropora corals offers grounds for cautious optimism; for coral-dwelling fishes, corals may be a preferred habitat, not an obligate requirement. Sharon Wismer et al. report the effects of coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef on coral-dependent fish populations. They show that despite huge losses in coral cover, both adult and young fishes persisted by using a range of alternative reef habitats. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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