Relative influence of environmental factors and fishing on coral reef fish assemblages

McClure, Eva C.; Hoey, Andrew S.; Sievers, Katie T.; Abesamis, Rene A.; Russ, Garry R.

doi:10.1111/cobi.13636

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…The condition of coral reef ecosystems affects reef fish diversity (Rosdianto et al, 2021) because coral reefs function as shelters and foraging places for food (Pratchett, 2008). In addition, McClure et al (2021) explained that the abundance of reef fish depends on the condition of the coral reefs and the complexity of the habitats that exist in the ecosystem. Coral reef ecosystems function as a place to live, find food, and breed for types of reef fish (Rosdianto et al, 2021).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reef Fish Species Diversity Using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding in Mansinam and Lemon Island Waters, Manokwari Regency

Pranata

Kusuma

Azhar

2022

JFS

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Biodiversity has an essential role in the stability of an ecosystem. A high level of biodiversity indicates a more stable and stable ecosystem. The decline in the quality of ecosystems such as coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests due to anthropogenic factors and global warming threaten biodiversity. This study aims to determine the diversity of reef fish species using an environmental DNA (eDNA) approach in the waters of the Mansinam and Lemon, Manokwari Regency islands. The analysis results detected 158 individual fish comprising 26 species from 10 families (sequence identity 97-100%). The highest species abundance was found in the Pomacentridae Family. The Pomacentridae family is an ornamental fish species in coral reef ecosystems. In addition, several species from the families Serranidae, Caesionidae, Mullidae, Holocentridae, Balistidae, Scaridae, and Labridae were also detected; fish species from these families are catch targets for fishers with economic value. Assessment of fish species diversity using the Shannon-Wiener method. The diversity of fish species in the waters of the islands of Mansinam and Lemon is in the high category, namely 3.17. High diversity indicates a stable and stable ecosystem condition.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reef Fish Species Diversity Using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding in Mansinam and Lemon Island Waters, Manokwari Regency

Pranata

Kusuma

Azhar

2022

JFS

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“…More specifically, the diversity of large‐bodied fishes is negatively associated with human pressure (Figure 2). Species abundance and richness of sharks, jacks, groupers and snappers are known to decrease with increasing human population density (Dulvy et al, 2021), affecting top down control in overexploited ecosystems (McClure et al, 2020). As human pressures (e.g., nutrient and chemical release and habitat degradation) affect the most sensitive species, often belonging to the same evolutionary lineages or families (Cinner et al, 2018; Dulvy et al, 2021), we observe a greater decrease in sequence α‐diversity than in MOTU diversity with increasing human pressure (Figure 3) as we hypothesized.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The distribution of coastal fish eDNA sequences in the Anthropocene

Mathon

Marques

Manel

et al. 2023

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Coastal fishes have a fundamental role in marine ecosystem functioning and contributions to people, but face increasing threats due to climate change, habitat degradation and overexploitation. The extent to which human pressures are impacting coastal fish biodiversity in comparison with geographic and environmental factors at large spatial scale is still under scrutiny. Here, we took advantage of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to investigate the relationship between fish biodiversity, including taxonomic and genetic components, and environmental but also socio‐economic factors. Location Tropical, temperate and polar coastal areas. Time period Present day. Major taxa studied Marine fishes. Methods We analysed fish eDNA in 263 stations (samples) in 68 sites distributed across polar, temperate and tropical regions. We modelled the effect of environmental, geographic and socio‐economic factors on α‐ and β‐diversity. We then computed the partial effect of each factor on several fish biodiversity components using taxonomic molecular units (MOTU) and genetic sequences. We also investigated the relationship between fish genetic α‐ and β‐diversity measured from our barcodes, and phylogenetic but also functional diversity. Results We show that fish eDNA MOTU and sequence α‐ and β‐diversity have the strongest correlation with environmental factors on coastal ecosystems worldwide. However, our models also reveal a negative correlation between biodiversity and human dependence on marine ecosystems. In areas with high dependence, diversity of all fish, cryptobenthic fish and large fish MOTUs declined steeply. Finally, we show that a sequence diversity index, accounting for genetic distance between pairs of MOTUs, within and between communities, is a reliable proxy of phylogenetic and functional diversity. Main conclusions Together, our results demonstrate that short eDNA sequences can be used to assess climate and direct human impacts on marine biodiversity at large scale in the Anthropocene and can further be extended to investigate biodiversity in its phylogenetic and functional dimensions.

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“…Coral mortality arising from climate change will shift the ratio of live:dead coral in favor of rubble. While this can have a rapid negative impact on macrofaunal diversity and function (McClure et al, 2021; Rogers et al, 2014; Rogers, Blanchard, & Mumby, 2018) it will likely increase cryptofaunal abundance and diversity (Stella et al, 2022; Wolfe et al, 2021). However, as the proportion of new coral declines under high mortality and stress, so too does the generation of new, structurally complex rubble.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical drivers of cryptic biodiversity on coral reefs

Wolfe

Kenyon

Desbiens

et al. 2023

Ecological Monographs

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Declines in habitat structural complexity have marked ecological outcomes, as currently observed in many of the world's ecosystems. Coral reefs have provided a model for such changes in marine ecosystems; still our understanding has been centered on corals and fishes at broad spatial scales when metazoan diversity on coral reefs is dominated by small cryptic taxa (herein: “cryptofauna”). Given the paucity of studies and high taxonomic complexity of the cryptofauna, both of which limit a priori hypotheses, we asked whether hierarchical structuring theory provides a compelling framework to impose order and quantify patterns. In general terms, we explored whether cryptic communities are sufficiently described by broad seascape parameters or limited by a set of processes operating at their distinctly nested microhabitat scale. To address this theory and gaps in knowledge for the cryptofauna, we characterized community structure in coral rubble, an eroded coral condition where biodiversity proliferates. Rubble was sampled along a depth and exposure gradient at Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, to parameterize environmental and morphological indicators of sessile taxa and motile cryptofauna communities. We used a hierarchical study framework from microhabitat to seascape scales, which were evaluated using nonstructured multivariate analyses and Bayesian structural equation modeling. While the nonstructured analyses showed the effects of seascape on the cryptobenthos and its community, this approach overlooked the finer hierarchical patterns in rubble ecology revealed only in the structured model. Seascape parameters (exposure and depth) influenced microhabitat complexity (i.e., rubble branchiness), which determined the cover of sessile organisms on rubble pieces, which shaped the motile cryptofauna community. Rubble is likely to be increasingly prevalent on coral reefs in the Anthropocene and is typically associated with low seascape‐level complexity and reduced macrofaunal richness. Parallel with hierarchical structuring theory, we showed a similar response operating at the microhabitat scale whereby low rubble complexity (i.e., branchiness) reduced cryptobenthic structure, diversity and size spectra. In a future ocean, we expect there may be an initial increase in biodiversity and trophodynamic processes derived from branching rubble, but a delay in ecosystem‐scale outcomes if coral, and thus rubble, generation and complexity is not sustained.

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Relative influence of environmental factors and fishing on coral reef fish assemblages

Cited by 17 publications

References 63 publications

Reef Fish Species Diversity Using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding in Mansinam and Lemon Island Waters, Manokwari Regency

Reef Fish Species Diversity Using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding in Mansinam and Lemon Island Waters, Manokwari Regency

The distribution of coastal fish eDNA sequences in the Anthropocene

Hierarchical drivers of cryptic biodiversity on coral reefs

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