Regional versus latitudinal variation in the life‐history traits and demographic rates of a reef fish, Centropyge bispinosa, in the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks, Australia

Abstract

Environmental temperature is an important determinant of physiological processes and life histories in ectotherms. Over latitudinal scales, variation in temperature has been linked to changes in life‐history traits and demographic rates, with growth and mortality rates generally being greatest at low latitudes, and longevity and maximum length being greater at higher latitudes. Using the two‐spined angelfish, Centropyge bispinosa, as our focal species, we compared growth patterns, growth rates, longevity, mortality, asymptotic length and maximum length across 22 reefs that span 13° of latitude within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) and the Coral Sea Marine Park (CSMP), Australia. We found no predictable latitudinal variation in mortality rates, growth patterns, growth rates, asymptotic or maximum length of C. bispinosa at regional to biogeographic scales. However, C. bispinosa consistently exhibited reduced longevity at lower, warmer latitudes within the CSMP. The greatest differences in mean maximum length of C. bispinosa were between continental (GBRMP) and oceanic (central CSMP) reefs of similar latitude, with individuals being larger on average on continental versus oceanic reefs. The lack of predictable life‐history and demographic variation in C. bispinosa across a 13° latitudinal gradient within the CSMP, coupled with differences in mean maximum length between continental and oceanic reefs at similar latitudes, suggest that local environmental conditions have a greater influence than environmental temperature on the demographic rates and life‐history traits of C. bispinosa.

Distribution Pattern of Mangrove Fish Communities in China

“…Latitude is frequently considered an important variable affecting species richness, and fish richness changes over the latitude [ 132 , 133 ]. The correlation between species composition and latitude has been confirmed in the Great Barrier Reef [ 134 ], Mexico [ 135 ], and California [ 136 ]. However, in our study, the number of species of mangrove fishes was not correlated with latitude, probably because the range of latitude was not sufficiently large for such effects to occur.…”

Age‐based life history of Pacific longnose parrotfish Hipposcarus longiceps from New Caledonia

“…Under the MTE, life span is predicted to increase with lower ambient SST due to reduced metabolism at lower temperatures (Clarke & Johnston, 2002). The results of the present study add to the growing body of literature documenting these associations in coral reef fishes, for example Acanthurus bahianus (Robertson et al ., 2005), Centropyge bispinosa (Lowe et al ., 2021), Ctenochaetus striatus (Trip et al ., 2008), Naso unicornis (Taylor et al ., 2019) and Scarus rubroviolaceus (Taylor & Cruz, 2017). For H .…”

“…longiceps asymptotic length displayed a negative correlation with SST, with larger asymptotic lengths observed at locations exposed to cooler water, the trend lacked statistical significance. This may be explained in part by the small sample sizes for some locations, as well as differences in reef geomorphology, productivity, resource availability and competition among sampling sites (Gust et al ., 2002; Robertson et al ., 2005; Munch & Salinas, 2009; Caselle et al ., 2011; Barnett et al ., 2017; Taylor et al ., 2018; Lowe et al ., 2021). For example, the northern GBR sampling location, where parrotfish are unfished, showed the largest deviation from the expected asymptotic length, a likely artefact of the limited sampling at this location ( n = 14; Choat & Robertson, 2002).…”

Divergence in life-history traits among three adjoining populations of the sea snake Emydocephalus annulatus (Hydrophiinae, Elapidae)

“…Among reef-associated fish on the Great Barrier Reef, demographic parameters such as growth, longevity and mortality differ more markedly along a cross-shelf gradient than along a latitudinal gradient, suggesting that local environmental conditions have a greater influence than does water temperature. For example, angelfish Centropyge bispinosa grow faster, attain greater lengths and have higher mortality rates on average on continental than on oceanic reefs 45 . Following the same trend, in four other taxa (the fishes Chlorurus sordidus, Scarus frenatus , and S. niger and the acanthurid Acanthurus lineatus ), individuals on outer-shelf reef crests exhibit smaller body sizes, slower growth and reduced life spans than do conspecifics on adjacent mid-shelf reef crests 46 whereas the reverse is true for the damselfish Acanthochromis bispinosa 47 .…”