Global tropical reef fish richness could decline by around half if corals are lost

Strona, Giovanni; Lafferty, Kevin D.; Fattorini, Simone; Beck, Pieter S. A.; Guilhaumon, François; Arrigoni, Roberto; Montano, Simone; Seveso, Davide; Galli, Paolo; Planes, Serge; Parravicini, Valeriano

doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.0274

Cited by 23 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Besides their fundamental contribution to biodiversity (Fisher et al 2015 ; Strona et al 2021 ), coral reefs provide countless ecosystem services (Spalding et al 2017 ), supplying hundreds of millions of people with food, income and natural resources, as well as contributing significantly to exports and tourism revenues (Costanza et al 2014 ). However, coral ecosystems are now experiencing an unprecedented decline due to climate change and other anthropogenic stressors (Hoegh‐Guldberg et al 2017 ; Hughes et al 2017 a , 2017 b ), with current coral reefs covering only 50% of their historic extent (De'ath et al 2012 ; IPBES 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the COVID‐19 lockdowns on the management of coral restoration projects

Montano

Dehnert

Seveso

et al. 2022

Restoration Ecology

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Coral restoration initiatives are gaining significant momentum in a global effort to enhance the recovery of degraded coral reefs. However, the implementation and upkeep of coral nurseries are particularly demanding, so that unforeseen breaks in maintenance operations might jeopardize well‐established projects. In the last 2 years, the COVID‐19 pandemic has resulted in a temporary yet prolonged abandonment of several coral gardening infrastructures worldwide, including remote localities. Here we provide a first assessment of the potential impacts of monitoring and maintenance breakdown in a suite of coral restoration projects (based on floating rope nurseries) in Colombia, Seychelles, and Maldives. Our study comprises nine nurseries from six locations, hosting a total of 3,554 fragments belonging to three coral genera, that were left unsupervised for a period spanning from 29 to 61 weeks. Floating nursery structures experienced various levels of damage, and total fragment survival spanned from 40 to 95% among projects, with Pocillopora showing the highest survival rate in all locations present. Overall, our study shows that, under certain conditions, abandoned coral nurseries can remain functional for several months without suffering critical failure from biofouling and hydrodynamism. Still, even where gardening infrastructures were only marginally affected, the unavoidable interruptions in data collection have slowed down ongoing project progress, diminishing previous investments and reducing future funding opportunities. These results highlight the need to increase the resilience and self‐sufficiency of coral restoration projects, so that the next global lockdown will not further shrink the increasing efforts to prevent coral reefs from disappearing.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the COVID‐19 lockdowns on the management of coral restoration projects

Montano

Dehnert

Seveso

et al. 2022

Restoration Ecology

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“…Knowledge of the diversity and distribution of coral fishes is important for planning future climate change scenarios [63], yet species level data are still lacking over large spatial scales [1]. The present study fills this gap revealing regional species distribution patterns with assemblages in Comoros less speciose compared with the other three countries.…”

Section: Species Level Differencesmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…The 22 most significant species that revealed patterns in diversity across the region came from the Scarinae, Chaetodontidae, Pomacentridae, Epinephelidae, Acanthuridae, Lutjanidae, Pomacanthidae, Haemulidae, and Ostraciidae suggesting these families should be considered for UVC surveys of reef fishes aiming to examine management, fishing effects and climate change on coral reefs. The current study provides a useful reference point for testing predictions of changes in reef fish species richness due to warming seas [63,80].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of Coral Reef Fishes in the Western Indian Ocean: Implications for Conservation

Samoilys

Álvarez‐Filip

Myers³

et al. 2022

Diversity

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Communities of coral reef fishes are changing due to global warming and overfishing. To understand these changes and inform conservation, knowledge of species diversity and distributions is needed. The western Indian Ocean (WIO) contains the second highest coral reef biodiversity hotspot globally, yet a detailed analysis of the diversity of coral reef fishes is lacking. This study developed a timed visual census method and recorded 356 species from 19 families across four countries in the WIO to examine patterns in species diversity. Species richness and composition differed most between the island countries of Madagascar and Comoros and both these locations differed from locations in Tanzania and Mozambique which were similar. These three regional groupings helped define WIO ecoregions for conservation planning. The highest species richness was found in Tanzania and Mozambique, and the lowest and most different species composition was found in Comoros. Biogeography explains these differences with naturally lower species diversity expected from the small, oceanic, and isolated islands of Comoros. Present day ocean currents maintain these diversity patterns and help explain the species composition in northeast Madagascar. Species distributions were driven by 46 of the 356 species; these provide guidance on important species for ongoing monitoring. The results provide a benchmark for testing future changes in reef fish species richness.

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“…On the other hand, the grazing activity of herbivorous fishes is critical in regulating algal populations (Steneck et al, 2017), consequently affecting the spatial competition with corals (Clements et al, 2018). The importance of these biotic interactions has been highlighted in a model estimation suggesting that half of the tropical reef fish richness would be lost if all reef-building corals disappear (Strona et al, 2021). Alternatively, the poleward expansion of benthic taxa may establish novel interactions following the arrival of scleractinians (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat change and its consequences on reef fish specialization in biogeographic transition zones

Lin

Hsiao

Chen

et al. 2022

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Reef fishes are commonly recognized as sentinels of the ongoing tropicalization in biogeographic transition zones between temperate and tropical areas. Despite the reliance of these marine ectotherms on the benthos, the importance of benthic habitat has rarely been considered as a factor constraining fish distribution. Therefore, our study aims at examining the consequences of both temperature and benthic variations on the fish fauna and diagnosing potential sentinels of these environmental changes. Location Taiwan, West Pacific. Taxon Teleostei (184 species). Methods We examined how the partitioning of habitats can influence the specialization of fish fauna along a latitudinal gradient. We diagnosed ‘specialist’ and ‘generalist’ fishes in this partitioning. For each specialist, we further evaluated whether its distribution is constrained by temperature, benthic habitat or both factors combined. The change in sea surface temperature over the last three decades was also monitored. Results Fish fauna showed the highest specialization when tropical and subtropical partitions of habitat were considered. Fifty‐one tropical specialists, 7 subtropical specialists and 21 possible generalists were identified. Among specialists, 13 species were associated with temperature, 19 with habitat and 26 with both factors. Steady warming occurred across latitudes, but was accentuated in the winter of subtropical habitat. Main Conclusions Our results suggested that the distribution of some specialist fishes was constrained only by temperature while the distribution of some others also depended on the availability of benthic habitats. Consequently, under global warming, the distribution of some specialists might shift in a manner that follows the movement of isotherms, while the distribution of others might also be conditioned by the poleward shifts of benthos. A temporal mismatch between the emergence of suitable thermal environments and the arrival of some specialists may exist. Therefore, the tropicalization of high‐latitude areas may be characterized by different waves of colonization.

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Global tropical reef fish richness could decline by around half if corals are lost

Cited by 23 publications

References 43 publications

Effects of the COVID‐19 lockdowns on the management of coral restoration projects

Effects of the COVID‐19 lockdowns on the management of coral restoration projects

Diversity of Coral Reef Fishes in the Western Indian Ocean: Implications for Conservation

Habitat change and its consequences on reef fish specialization in biogeographic transition zones

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