“…In order to test the predictions of earlier spatial studies (e.g., Barley et al, 2017b;Meekan, Cappo, Carleton, & Marriott, 2006;Ruppert et al, 2013), we compared both the pre-and postrecovery of communities of mesopredatory fishes at Ashmore Reef to other nearby reefs in the region that are either currently being fished (the Scott Reefs) and have low numbers of sharks or have been protected for almost three decades (the Rowley Shoals) and have relatively "pristine" predator communities. As habitat also influences reef fish communities (Darling et al, 2017;Fitzpatrick, Harvey, Heyward, Twiggs, & Colquhoun, 2012;Friedlander & Parrish, 1998;McLean et al, 2016;Valdivia et al, 2017) and likely drives predatorprey interactions (Ritchie & Johnson, 2009), we compared changes occurring in communities of mesopredatory fishes through time in both reef and near-reef environments at Ashmore Reef. Contrasts between these habitats may be particularly important given the growing evidence that reefs sharks and other predatory fish species can consume non-reef-based prey (Frisch, Ireland, & Baker, 2014;Frisch et al, 2016;McCauley et al, 2012).…”