“…Coral reefs are complex ecosystems of great ecological importance (Dight & Sherl, 1997) and high productivity (Birkeland, 1997; Osborne, 2000), with exceptional and very concentrated biodiversity (Connell, 1978; Moberg & Folke, 1999). Studies of reef environments have revealed the importance of corals and other suspensivorous organisms as energy transformation links between the pelagic and benthic domains (Lasker, 1976; Smetacek, 1984; Lira et al , 2009; Gomes et al , 2012). As they are commonly preyed upon by reef fish, these organisms pass the biomass fixed by plankton on to higher levels of the food chain (Cole et al , 2008; Rotjan & Lewis, 2008; Francini-Filho & Moura, 2010) and are fundamental to energy fluxes and marine trophic webs.…”