Experimental evaluation of the effect of a territorial damselfish on foraging behaviour of roving herbivores on coral reefs

Eurich, Jacob G.; Shomaker, Simone M.; McCormick, Mark I.; Jones, Geoffrey P.

doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2018.06.009

Cited by 30 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…scraping by parrotfishes [Bellwood & Choat, ], or brushing by surgeonfishes [Goatley & Bellwood, ]), or by maintaining short, cropped algal turfs minimizing their propensity to trap sediments (Goatley et al, ; Steneck, ). By contrast, if sediment loads get too high, sediments can directly reduce herbivory rates by mechanically protecting underlying algal filaments from removal or suppressing total fish feeding rates (Clausing et al, ; Eurich, Shomaker, Mccormick, & Jones, ; Fong, Bittick, & Fong, ; Goatley et al, ; Tebbett et al, ). Additionally, high sediment loads can indirectly reduce herbivory, by lowering the nutritional value of the turf, through reduced turf productivity (Tebbett et al, ) or “watering‐down” relative levels of detritus in the particulate mixture (Purcell & Bellwood, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 3D perspective on sediment accumulation in algal turfs: Implications of coral reef flattening

2019

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Globally, coral reefs are being transformed by a suite of stressors, the foremost being climate change. Increasingly, it is expected that these reconfigured reef systems will emerge with lower‐complexity and will be dominated by algal turfs. Understanding this new operating space is vital if we are to maintain the services, such as fishable biomass production, that reefs provide. However, the functionality of these systems appears to depend on the nature of the algal turfs themselves, which is in‐turn, intimately linked to the sediments they contain. As reefs are losing complexity, we need to understand if, and to what extent, algal turf condition and complex reef structure are connected. To address this issue we took advantage of recent developments in 3D structure‐from‐motion technology to examine how complexity metrics (elevation and surface angle) related to the nature of algal turfs on a heavily climate‐impacted coral reef. This represents a novel application of this technology in the context of coral reef ecosystems. We found that as both elevation and surface angle decreased, the nutritional value of the epilithic algal matrix also decreased while sediment accumulation increased. Furthermore, we showed that elevated surfaces were characterized by far shorter algal turfs, and are potentially herbivory hotspots, offering fertile grounds for further exploration of herbivory dynamics at sub‐metre spatial scales. Synthesis. This study yields new insights into the operating‐space of future reefs, and suggests that as reefs flatten, sediment accumulation is likely to increase even if sediment inputs remain unchanged, altering algal turfs fundamentally. Maintaining key services provided by climate‐transformed, low‐complexity algal turf‐dominated reefs of the future, will depend on managing the complex interactions between herbivory, sediments, algal turfs and reef structural complexity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 3D perspective on sediment accumulation in algal turfs: Implications of coral reef flattening

2019

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“…For example, the nature of algal turf resources can vary dramatically among habitats in terms of their productivity, sediment loading and detritus levels [10,[97][98][99]. All such factors can affect herbivorous fish feeding activity [55,[100][101][102] and are also likely to be closely intertwined with habitat complexity [29,103]. Furthermore, hydrodynamic activity such as wave energy [10,104] varies substantially among habitats and can structure fish assemblages.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat zonation on coral reefs: Structural complexity, nutritional resources and herbivorous fish distributions

2020

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Distinct zonation of community assemblages among habitats is a ubiquitous feature of coral reefs. The distribution of roving herbivorous fishes (parrotfishes, surgeonfishes and rabbitfishes) is a particularly clear example, with the abundance of these fishes generally peaking in shallow-water, high-energy habitats, regardless of the biogeographic realm. Yet, our understanding of the factors which structure this habitat partitioning, especially with regards to different facets of structural complexity and nutritional resource availability, is limited. To address this issue, we used three-dimensional photogrammetry and structure-from-motion technologies to describe five components of structural complexity (rugosity, coral cover, verticality, refuge density and field-of-view) and nutritional resource availability (grazing surface area) among habitats and considered how these factors are related to herbivorous fish distributions. All complexity metrics (including coral cover) were highest on the slope and crest. Nutritional resource availability differed from this general pattern and peaked on the outerflat. Unexpectedly, when compared to the distribution of herbivorous fishes, none of the complexity metrics had a marked influence in the models. However, grazing surface area was a strong predictor of both the abundance and biomass of herbivorous fishes. The strong relationship between grazing surface area and herbivorous fish distributions indicates that nutritional resource availability may be one of the primary factors driving the distribution of roving herbivorous fishes. The lack of a relationship between complexity and herbivorous fishes, and a strong affinity of herbivorous fishes for low-complexity, algal turf-dominated outer-flat habitats, offers some cautious optimism that herbivory may be sustained on future, low-complexity, algal turf-dominated reef configurations.

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“…Intensive grazing damsel sh are also referred to as algae-farmers. Research on territorial grazers has focused on competition [40], patterns of co-existence [35,41,42], behavioural interactions [43,44], and their role in structuring algae and coral communities [39,[45][46][47][48][49][50].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Core intestinal microbiomes of planktivorous and algae-farming coral reef damselfishes (Actinopterygii: Pomacentridae) reflects feeding behaviour

Kavazos

Leggat

Casey

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract Background: Fish harbour diverse microbiomes within their gastro-intestinal system that effect the host’s digestion, nutrition and immunity. Despite the great taxonomic diversity of fish, little is understood about fish microbiome diversity and the factors that determine its structure and composition. Damselfish are important coral reef fish species that play a strong role in determining algae and coral structure of reefs. Broadly, damselfish belong to either of two trophic guilds based on whether they are planktivorous or algae-farming. In this study, we use 16s rRNA sequencing to interrogate the intestinal microbiome of 10 damselfish species (Pomacentridae) from the Great Barrier Reef to compare the composition of their intestinal bacterial assemblages across the planktivorous and algae-farming trophic guilds.Results: We identify core intestinal bacterial taxa for each host fish species. Gammaproteobacteria, belonging to the genus Actinobacillus, were detected in 80 % of sampled individuals and suggests a possible core member of pomacentrid microbiomes. Core microbiomes of algae-farming species were more diverse than planktivorous species with farming species sharing 35 ± 22 ASVs and planktivorous sharing 7 ± 3 ASVs. We also provide evidence for significant shifts in bacterial community composition along the intestines. We show that Bacteroidia, Clostridia and Mollicutes bacteria are more abundant in the anterior intestinal regions while Gammaproteobacteria are generally highest in the stomach. Finally, we highlight differences in microbiomes associated with both trophic guilds. Algae-farming and planktivorous damselfish host species significantly differed in their composition of bacteria belonging to Vibrionaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Pasteurellaceae.Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that core intestinal bacterial communities of damselfish reflect host species diet and feeding behaviour, whereby algae-farming hosts have larger and more diverse core microbiomes than planktivorous hosts. We suggest that the trophic guild of a host fish species is a strong determinant of microbiome structure.

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Experimental evaluation of the effect of a territorial damselfish on foraging behaviour of roving herbivores on coral reefs

Cited by 30 publications

References 62 publications

A 3D perspective on sediment accumulation in algal turfs: Implications of coral reef flattening

A 3D perspective on sediment accumulation in algal turfs: Implications of coral reef flattening

Habitat zonation on coral reefs: Structural complexity, nutritional resources and herbivorous fish distributions

Core intestinal microbiomes of planktivorous and algae-farming coral reef damselfishes (Actinopterygii: Pomacentridae) reflects feeding behaviour

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