Habitat Connectivity in Coastal Environments: Patterns and Movements of Caribbean Coral Reef Fishes with Emphasis on Bluestriped Grunt, Haemulon sciurus

Beets, Jim; Muehlstein, Lisa K.; Haught, Kerri; Schmitges, Henry

doi:10.18785/gcr.1402.03

Cited by 33 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(26 reference statements)

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“…Fishermen reported a significant decrease over time in the mean size of individuals observed or captured (e.g., Hutchings 2005). A similar change in fish assemblage composition was reported by Beets et al (2003) for the Virgin Islands. There, the biomass of large predators appears to be reduced and biomass of herbivores and invertebrate feeders proportionally increased as fishing intensity and other human disturbances increased.…”

Section: Literature Citedsupporting

confidence: 62%

The Influence of Habitat and Fishing on Reef Fish Assemblages in Cuba

González-Sansón

Aguilar

Hernández

et al. 2009

GCR

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Section: Literature Citedsupporting

confidence: 62%

The Influence of Habitat and Fishing on Reef Fish Assemblages in Cuba

González-Sansón

Aguilar

Hernández

et al. 2009

GCR

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“…Maximum distances between the centers of day and night activity spaces were 332 m for H. sciurus and 485 m for L. apodus. Other studies have reported similar scales of movement; for instance, Beets et al (2003) and Verweij & Nagelkerken (2007) observed H. sciurus and L. apodus moving estimated distances of 230 to 767 m from day resting areas to nighttime foraging areas. Thus, day and night activity spaces and combined diel activity spaces provide an ecologically meaningful unit for scaling the environment in habitat-use studies (Pittman & McAlpine 2003).…”

Section: Diel Behavior Patterns and Seascape Usementioning

confidence: 57%

Diel movements of fishes linked to benthic seascape structure in a Caribbean coral reef ecosystem

Hitt¹,

Pittman²,

Nemeth³

2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Many common fishes associated with Caribbean coral reef ecosystems use resources from more than 1 patch type during routine daily foraging activities. Few studies have provided direct evidence of connectivity across seascapes, and the importance of benthic seascape structure on movement behavior is poorly known. To address this knowledge gap, we coupled hydro-acoustic technology to track fish with seafloor mapping and pattern analysis techniques from landscape ecology to quantify seascape structure. Bluestriped grunts Haemulon sciurus and schoolmaster snapper Lutjanus apodus were tracked over 24 h periods using boat-based acoustic telemetry. Movement pathways, and day and night activity spaces were mapped using geographical information system (GIS) tools, and seafloor structure within activity spaces was mapped from high-resolution aerial photography and quantified using spatial pattern metrics. For both fish species, night activity spaces were significantly larger than day activity spaces. Fish exhibited a daytime preference for seascapes with aggregate coral reef and colonized bedrock, then shifted to night activity spaces with lowercomplexity soft sediment including sand, seagrass, and scattered coral/rock. Movement path complexity was negatively correlated with seascape complexity. This demonstrates direct connectivity across multiple patch types and represents the first study to apply quantitative landscape ecology techniques to examine the movement ecology of marine fish. The spatially explicit approach facilitates understanding to the linkages between biological processes and the heterogeneity of the landscape. Such studies are essential for identifying ecologically relevant spatial scales, delineating essential fish habitat and designing marine protected areas.

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“…However, the impact of factors like food availability and predation pressure depends not only on the type of habitat (i.e. seagrass bed, mangrove, coral reef) per se, but is also likely to be influenced by the way the various habitat types are arranged within the coastal landscape, the so-called 'habitat configuration' (Garcia-Charton & Perez-Ruzafa 1999, Beets et al 2003, Serafy et al 2003, Grober-Dunsmore et al 2004, Pittman et al 2004). In the Caribbean, seagrass beds and mangroves can be located directly adjacent to a coral reef, in bays with an open connection to a coral reef, or in semi-enclosed lagoons that are only connected to a coral reef by a narrow entrance channel.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of habitat configuration on connectivity between fish assemblages of Caribbean seagrass beds, mangroves and coral reefs

Dorenbosch¹,

Verberk²,

Nagelkerken³

et al. 2007

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

123

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The importance of seagrass beds and mangroves as juvenile habitats for coral reef fishes is still debatable. We hypothesised that the configuration of these habitats in the marine landscape in relation to the coral reef would influence accessibility from the reef (both for fishes that use these habitats for shelter or feeding, and their predators). In combination with differences in habitat complexity (related to habitat type) this could influence the utilisation of these habitats by juvenile reef fishes, and connectivity with the coral reef. Using underwater visual census, we studied the use by juvenile reef fishes of various seagrass and mangrove habitats situated differently in relation to the coral reef, on the Caribbean island of Aruba. Additionally, we studied fish assemblages on various coral reefs differing in proximity to seagrass Thalassia testudinum and mangrove Rhizophora mangle habitats at the scale of the whole island. In the seagrass and mangrove habitats, habitat configuration in relation to the reef was related to the composition of the fish assemblage, species richness, fish density and fish size. This was consistent with our expectations related to accessibility of these habitats from the reef, and habitat complexity. Most fish species that use seagrasses and mangroves as juvenile habitats were absent from or showed reduced densities on coral reefs located far (> 9 km) from seagrass-mangrove habitats. At a smaller spatial scale, this effect was less clear. For some species, this lack of an effect at smaller spatial scales may be explained by local recruitment to the reef, whereas for other species (i.e. Haemulon sciurus, Lutjanus apodus, L. mahogoni and Scarus guacamaia) migration along the coast offers a more likely explanation. We suggest that the value of seagrass and mangrove habitats as a juvenile habitat should not be generalised a priori, since habitat configuration may interact with the degree of connectivity between seagrasses, mangroves and coral reefs.

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Habitat Connectivity in Coastal Environments: Patterns and Movements of Caribbean Coral Reef Fishes with Emphasis on Bluestriped Grunt, Haemulon sciurus

Cited by 33 publications

References 27 publications

The Influence of Habitat and Fishing on Reef Fish Assemblages in Cuba

The Influence of Habitat and Fishing on Reef Fish Assemblages in Cuba

Diel movements of fishes linked to benthic seascape structure in a Caribbean coral reef ecosystem

Influence of habitat configuration on connectivity between fish assemblages of Caribbean seagrass beds, mangroves and coral reefs

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