Demographic dynamics of the smallest marine vertebrates fuel coral reef ecosystem functioning

Brandl, Simon J.; Tornabene, Luke; Goatley, Christopher H. R.; Casey, Jordan M.; Morais, Renato A.; Côté, Isabelle M.; Baldwin, Carole C.; Parravicini, Valeriano; Schiettekatte, Nina M. D.; Bellwood, David R.

doi:10.1126/science.aav3384

Cited by 170 publications

(193 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…; Brandl et al . ). We demonstrate that reef systems can be bottom‐heavy in areas of high irradiance, and middle‐driven when external energetic subsidies, delivered by a panoply of biophysical processes, are maximized.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Natural variation in coral reef trophic structure across environmental gradients

Heenan

Williams

2019

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

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Policies designed to address current challenges to the sustainability of fisheries generally use an ecosystem‐based approach – one that incorporates interactions between fishes, fishers, and the environment. Fishing alters the trophic structure among coral reef fish but properly assessing those impacts requires an understanding of how and why that structure varies naturally across scales. Using a combination of small‐ and large‐scale surveys, we generated biomass pyramids for 20 uninhabited Pacific islands, and found that (1) the distribution of reef fish biomass across trophic levels is highly scale dependent: trophic structures that appear top‐heavy at small scales can take a variety of different states when data are integrated across the broader seascape; (2) reefs can have the greatest biomass at intermediate consumer levels, which we describe as “middle‐driven” systems; and (3) in unfished coral reef systems, trophic structure is strongly predicted by energy into the base and middle of the food web, as well as by the interacting effect of water temperature.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…It has also become clear that small‐bodied cryptic fishes, such as blennies and gobies, are key energetic resources sustaining overall reef fish production (Brandl et al . ). Because of their low detectability in visual surveys (Kulbicki et al .…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Natural variation in coral reef trophic structure across environmental gradients

Heenan

Williams

2019

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

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“…Protection of reefs requires effective management plans that can mitigate the negative impacts of local and global stressors and conserve ecosystem functioning. Much is known about the major threats to coral reefs, including climate change and overfishing (Graham et al 2015;Bruno et al 2019), and several key species living on coral reefs have been identified (Bellwood et al 2004;Alvarez-Filip et al 2009;Brandl et al 2019). However, there is much less clarity about what exactly a functioning coral reef is and how it is influenced by the hyperdiverse communities that make coral reefs one of the most remarkable ecosystems on the planet.…”

Section: Front Ecol Environmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Brandl et al . ). However, there is much less clarity about what exactly a functioning coral reef is and how it is influenced by the hyperdiverse communities that make coral reefs one of the most remarkable ecosystems on the planet.…”

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confidence: 97%

Coral reef ecosystem functioning: eight core processes and the role of biodiversity

Brandl

Rasher

Côté

et al. 2019

Frontiers in Ecol & Environ

214

177

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Coral reefs are in global decline. Reversing this trend is a primary management objective but doing so depends on understanding what keeps reefs in desirable states (ie “functional”). Although there is evidence that coral reefs thrive under certain conditions (eg moderate water temperatures, limited fishing pressure), the dynamic processes that promote ecosystem functioning and its internal drivers (ie community structure) are poorly defined and explored. Specifically, despite decades of research suggesting a positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across biomes, few studies have explored this relationship in coral reef systems. We propose a practical definition of coral reef functioning, centered on eight complementary ecological processes: calcium carbonate production and bioerosion, primary production and herbivory, secondary production and predation, and nutrient uptake and release. Connecting research on species niches, functional diversity of communities, and rates of the eight key processes can provide a novel, quantitative understanding of reef functioning and its dependence on coral reef communities that will chart the transition of coral reefs in the Anthropocene. This will contribute urgently needed guidance for the management of these important ecosystems.

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“…Recently, marine fish communities underwent a climate‐driven functional switch from fast to slow life‐history species dominance (McLean, Mouillot, Goascoz, Schlaich, & Auber, ). In coral reefs, shifts from species with small body size and fast lifespan to large‐bodied and slow life‐history dominance can disrupt food chains (Hempson, Graham, MacNeil, Hoey, & Almany, ) and severely decrease ecosystem productivity (Brandl et al, ). Therefore, understanding the impacts of habitat changes in coral reefs fish communities from fine to coarse spatial scales is critical for predicting how the ecological process will respond to increasing large‐scale disturbances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate‐driven shift in coral morphological structure predicts decline of juvenile reef fishes

Fontoura

Zawada

D’agata

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Rapid intensification of environmental disturbances has sparked widespread decline and compositional shifts in foundation species in ecosystems worldwide. Now, an emergent challenge is to understand the consequences of shifts and losses in such habitat‐forming species for associated communities and ecosystem processes. Recently, consecutive coral bleaching events shifted the morphological makeup of habitat‐forming coral assemblages on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Considering the disparity of coral morphological growth forms in shelter provision for reef fishes, we investigated how shifts in the morphological structure of coral assemblages affect the abundance of juvenile and adult reef fishes. We used a temporal dataset from shallow reefs in the northern GBR to estimate coral convexity (a fine‐scale quantitative morphological trait) and two widely used coral habitat descriptors (coral cover and reef rugosity) for disentangling the effects of coral morphology on reef fish assemblages. Changes in coral convexity, rather than live coral cover or reef rugosity, disproportionately affected juvenile reef fishes when compared to adults, and explained more than 20% of juvenile decline. The magnitude of this effect varied by fish body size with juveniles of small‐bodied species showing higher vulnerability to changes in coral morphology. Our findings suggest that continued large‐scale shifts in the relative abundance of morphological groups within coral assemblages are likely to affect population replenishment and dynamics of future reef fish communities. The different responses of juvenile and adult fishes according to habitat descriptors indicate that focusing on coarse‐scale metrics alone may mask fine‐scale ecological responses that are key to understand ecosystem functioning and resilience. Nonetheless, quantifying coral morphological traits may contribute to forecasting the structure of reef fish communities on novel reef ecosystems shaped by climate change.

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Demographic dynamics of the smallest marine vertebrates fuel coral reef ecosystem functioning

Cited by 170 publications

References 79 publications

Natural variation in coral reef trophic structure across environmental gradients

Natural variation in coral reef trophic structure across environmental gradients

Coral reef ecosystem functioning: eight core processes and the role of biodiversity

Climate‐driven shift in coral morphological structure predicts decline of juvenile reef fishes

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