Coral recovery may not herald the return of fishes on damaged coral reefs

Bellwood, David R.; Baird, Andrew H.; Depczynski, Martial; González-Cabello, Alonso; Hoey, Andrew S.; Lefévre, Carine D.; Tanner, Jennifer K.

doi:10.1007/s00442-012-2306-z

Cited by 59 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…A study on the Great Barrier Reef found that fish communities have not returned to a pre‐bleaching composition more than 16 years after the 1998 bleaching event (Bellwood et al . ). Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that while some Seychelles reefs were showing signs of coral recovery 11 years after the 1998 bleaching event (Wilson et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Herbivore cross‐scale redundancy supports response diversity and promotes coral reef resilience

Nash

Graham

Jennings

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Ecology

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110

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Functional redundancy contributes to resilience if different species in the same functional group respond to disturbance in different ways (response diversity). If species in a functional group perform their functional role at different spatial scales (cross-scale redundancy), they are expected to respond differently to scale-specific disturbance. Consequently, variance in the spatial scales over which species perform their functional role may provide a proxy for resilience. Coral reefs are diverse systems that provide key ecosystem services and are subject to increasing anthropogenic disturbances. Algal grazing by herbivorous fish contributes to the maintenance of coral-dominated reefs. To date, there has been little evaluation of the traits driving response diversity among herbivorous fish and how this relates to coral recovery following acute disturbances. Using body size as a proxy for the spatial scale at which fish function, we tested whether cross-scale redundancy in herbivores was an effective indicator of response diversity and coral recovery on 21 reefs monitored through a climate-induced disturbance that caused coral bleaching and widespread coral mortality. When herbivorous fish assemblages that operated over a broader range of spatial scales were present on reefs prior to disturbance, the reefs were more likely to recover to coral-dominated states after the disturbance. After the temperature-induced disturbance, the loss of small herbivores was compensated for through increases in large herbivores. This was indicative of high response diversity and drove the overall increase in herbivore biomass at recovering sites. These compensatory mechanisms were not found at sites where herbivores operated over a narrower range of spatial scales. Synthesis and applications. Cross-scale redundancy provides managers with an indicator of coral reef resilience, although the contribution of cross-scale redundancy to resilience will vary among sites. Maintaining high cross-scale redundancy at a given site requires that no size classes of reef herbivores are disproportionately depleted by fishing. Balanced harvesting, where species are all fished in proportion to their potential production, would help achieve this

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Herbivore cross‐scale redundancy supports response diversity and promotes coral reef resilience

Nash

Graham

Jennings

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Ecology

Self Cite

110

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“…Studies have repeatedly shown, for both fishes and corals, that it is important to look beyond species richness if we wish to protect the world's reefs Bellwood, Hoey & Hughes, 2012b;Mouillot et al, 2013Mouillot et al, , 2014D'agata et al, 2014;Hughes et al, 2014). Thus while speciation and biodiversity may be interesting, they offer a dangerous distraction as reefs can rapidly lose critical functions while the biodiversity (species richness) remains relatively intact (Bellwood et al, , 2012aDornelas et al, 2014;Hughes et al, 2014).…”

Section: (B) the Functional Importance Of Species In Reef Ecosystems:mentioning

confidence: 94%

The evolution of fishes and corals on reefs: form, function and interdependence

2016

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Coral reefs are renowned for their spectacular biodiversity and the close links between fishes and corals. Despite extensive fossil records and common biogeographic histories, the evolution of these two key groups has rarely been considered together. We therefore examine recent advances in molecular phylogenetics and palaeoecology, and place the evolution of fishes and corals in a functional context. In critically reviewing the available fossil and phylogenetic evidence, we reveal a marked congruence in the evolution of the two groups. Despite one group consisting of swimming vertebrates and the other colonial symbiotic invertebrates, fishes and corals have remarkably similar evolutionary histories. In the Paleocene and Eocene [66-34 million years ago (Ma)] most modern fish and coral families were present, and both were represented by a wide range of functional morphotypes. However, there is little evidence of diversification at this time. By contrast, in the Oligocene and Miocene (34-5.3 Ma), both groups exhibited rapid lineage diversification. There is also evidence of increasing reef area, occupation of new habitats, increasing coral cover, and potentially, increasing fish abundance. Functionally, the Oligocene-Miocene is marked by the appearance of new fish and coral taxa associated with high-turnover fast-growth ecosystems and the colonization of reef flats. It is in this period that the functional characteristics of modern coral reefs were established. Most species, however, only arose in the last 5.3 million years (Myr; Plio-Pleistocene), with the average age of fish species being 5.3 Myr, and corals just 1.9 Myr. While these species are genetically distinct, phenotypic differences are often limited to variation in colour or minor morphological features. This suggests that the rapid increase in biodiversity during the last 5.3 Myr was not matched by changes in ecosystem function. For reef fishes, colour appears to be central to recent diversification. However, the presence of pigment patterns in the Eocene suggests that colour may not have driven recent diversification. Furthermore, the lack of functional changes in fishes or corals over the last 5 Myr raises questions over the role and importance of biodiversity in shaping the future of coral reefs.

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“…While these calculations may be affected by pulses in recruitment, e.g. [42,56] and density-dependent mortality effects [45,57], small fish communities are often remarkably stable [58][59][60][61] with the dominant species on coral reefs (e.g. gobies, acanthurids, chaetodontids [27,42]) often displaying continual recruitment [56].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body size and mortality rates in coral reef fishes: a three-phase relationship

Goatley¹,

Bellwood²

2016

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Body size is closely linked to mortality rates in many animals, although the overarching patterns in this relationship have rarely been considered for multiple species. A meta-analysis of published size-specific mortality rates for coral reef fishes revealed an exponential decline in mortality rate with increasing body size, however, within this broad relationship there are three distinct phases. Phase one is characterized by naive fishes recruiting to reefs, which suffer extremely high mortality rates. In this well-studied phase, fishes must learn quickly to survive the many predation risks. After just a few days, the surviving fishes enter phase two, in which small increases in body size result in pronounced increases in lifespan (estimated 11 d mm -1 ).Remarkably, approximately 50% of reef fish individuals remain in phase two throughout their lives. Once fishes reach a size threshold of about 43 mm total length (TL) they enter phase three, where mortality rates are relatively low and the pressure to grow is presumably, significantly reduced. These phases provide a clearer understanding of the impact of body size on mortality rates in coral reef fishes and begin to reveal critical insights into the energetic and trophic dynamics of coral reefs.

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Coral recovery may not herald the return of fishes on damaged coral reefs

Cited by 59 publications

References 42 publications

Herbivore cross‐scale redundancy supports response diversity and promotes coral reef resilience

Herbivore cross‐scale redundancy supports response diversity and promotes coral reef resilience

The evolution of fishes and corals on reefs: form, function and interdependence

Body size and mortality rates in coral reef fishes: a three-phase relationship

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