The relationship of reef fish densities to the proximity of mangrove and seagrass nurseries

Dorenbosch, M.; Riel, M.C. van; Nagelkerken, Ivan; Velde, G. van der

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2003.11.018

Cited by 146 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…It is thought that these habitats can contribute to fish communities on the coral reef through migration of adults or subadults from these nurseries. Results from various studies in the Caribbean support this hypothesis and show that the presence of seagrass beds or mangroves significantly influences the composition of the fish community on adjacent coral reefs (Nagelkerken et al 2000a, 2002, Dorenbosch et al 2004, Halpern 2004, Mumby et al 2004.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

“…These observations support the hypothesis that the presence of areas with important juvenile habitats, such as seagrass beds, has a positive effect on the densities of adults on adjacent coral reefs of species that use these habitats as juveniles. This has also been suggested for coral reef species that use seagrass-mangrove nurseries on Caribbean islands (Ley et al 1999, Nagelkerken et al 2000a, 2002, Ley & McIvor 2002, Dorenbosch et al 2004, Halpern 2004, Mumby et al 2004. Hence, the utilisation of seagrass habitats as a juvenile habitat by coral reef fishes in some regions of the Indo-Pacific can be as important as in the Caribbean.…”

Section: Effect Of the Presence Of Areas With Seagrass Beds On Adult mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These species occurred in comparable or even higher adult densities on the Comoros reefs (Chlorurus strongylocephalus, Lethrinus microdon, Mulloidichthys flavolineatus and Siganus stellatus) or the far reefs (Cheilinus trilobatus, Chlorurus sordidus, Hipposcarus harid, Lethrinus harak, L. obsoletus, Lutjanus monostigma, Mulloidichthys flavolineatus, Parupeneus macronema, Scarus scaber, S. psittacus and Siganus sutor). The most likely explanation for this distribution pattern is recruitment and survival of juveniles on reefs (Nagelkerken et al 2000a,b, 2002, Dorenbosch et al 2004. Another possible explanation for the presence of their adults on far reefs would be the migration of adults or subadults of these species from sg-mg areas via sg-mg reefs to far reefs.…”

Section: Effect Of the Presence Of Areas With Seagrass Beds On Adult mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High densities of juvenile reef fish in mangroves and seagrass beds alone do not prove their importance as nurseries, because (1) these habitats could merely function as sinks of juveniles if adults or subadults do not migrate to adjacent coral reefs (Beck et al 2001), and (2) other shallow-water habitats may harbour similar or higher densities of juveniles. Various studies have shown that other shallow habitats can also be used as juvenile habitats by reef fish that are normally known to occur in high densities in seagrass beds or mangroves (Jenkins & Wheatley 1998, Nagelkerken et al 2000a, Rossier & Kulbicki 2000, Dorenbosch et al 2004.Studying the importance of mangroves and seagrass beds for juvenile fish requires that all available major shallow-water habitats are investigated simultaneously, while densities of fish in the adult habitat (i.e. adjacent coral reef) should also be determined, using a uniform, standardised sampling methodology.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indo-Pacific seagrass beds and mangroves contribute to fish density and diversity on adjacent coral reefs

Dorenbosch¹,

Grol²,

Christianen³

et al. 2005

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

195

127

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There is a long-standing debate whether mangrove and seagrass habitats in the IndoPacific region function as nurseries for coral reef fishes. We studied the use of all major shallow-water habitat types by juvenile coral reef fish using visual census surveys at 4 islands along the Tanzanian coast (East Africa) and at the island of Grande Comoros (Comoros archipelago). We investigated the value of mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs, macroalgae and intertidal flats as a juvenile habitat for fish by studying density distribution patterns of juveniles and adults of 76 reef fish species in these habitats. We assessed (1) which part of the reef fish community used mangrove-seagrass habitats as juvenile or adult habitats, (2) whether adult fish densities and diversity on adjacent reefs were related to the presence of these shallow habitats, and (3) whether adults of species that use these habitats when juvenile were less abundant on coral reefs situated far away from these juvenile habitats. Seagrass beds and coral reefs were the most important juvenile fish habitats. Ontogenetic migrations between seagrass beds and reef habitats possibly occur, since several species showed their highest juvenile densities on seagrass beds, whereas adults showed their highest densities on reefs adjacent to these seagrass beds. The presence of areas with seagrass beds positively influenced adult densities of many reef fish species on adjacent coral reefs. Of the 36 fish species whose juveniles were observed in seagrass beds along the Tanzanian coast, 32 species were absent from or showed low densities on coral reefs of the island of Grande Comoros (lacking seagrass beds or mangroves). On reefs far from seagrass beds and mangroves along the Tanzanian coast, 25 of these 36 species were absent or showed low densities in comparison with reefs adjacent to these habitats. KEY WORDS: Coral reef fish · Seagrass beds · Mangroves · Juveniles · Habitat connectivity · Indian Ocean Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 302: [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76] 2005 relatively minor, and have concluded that there is less interaction between mangroves and other coastal habitats than in the Caribbean (Quinn & Kojis 1987, Robertson & Duke 1987, Thollot & Kulbicki 1988, Kimani et al. 1996, Laroche et al. 1997, Huxham et al. 2004). Other studies, however, did report the presence of juvenile coral reef fish in mangrove areas (Lal et al. 1984, Little et al. 1988, Robertson & Duke 1990, Wakwabi & Mees 1999, de Boer et al. 2001. Hence, the importance of Indo-Pacific mangroves for juvenile fish remains unclear.Unlike mangroves, seagrass beds in the Indo-Pacific region are commonly used by juvenile coral reef fish (Jones & Chade 1975, Kimani et al. 1996, Kochzius 1997, Gullström et al. 2002, Nakamura & Sano 2004a. This means that seagrass beds may have a greater value as juvenile habitats for reef fish than mangroves. So far, however, there have been no studies in the ...

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Effect Of the Presence Of Areas With Seagrass Beds On Adult mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effect Of the Presence Of Areas With Seagrass Beds On Adult mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indo-Pacific seagrass beds and mangroves contribute to fish density and diversity on adjacent coral reefs

Dorenbosch¹,

Grol²,

Christianen³

et al. 2005

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

195

127

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“…These coastal forests also strongly influence the structure of neighboring marine communities by increasing the biomass of commercially important fish and invertebrates that spend part of their life cycles in the mangrove environment (4)(5)(6)(7). The value of mangrove ecosystem services worldwide has been estimated as an annual global flow of US$ 1,648 billion (8).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mangroves in the Gulf of California increase fishery yields

Aburto‐Oropeza

Ezcurra

Danemann³

et al. 2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

379

187

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Mangroves are disappearing rapidly worldwide despite their well documented biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. Failure to link ecological processes and their societal benefits has favored highly destructive aquaculture and tourism developments that threaten mangroves and result in costly ''externalities.'' Specifically, the potentially irreparable damage to fisheries because of mangrove loss has been belittled and is greatly underestimated. Here, we show that, in the Gulf of California, fisheries landings are positively related to the local abundance of mangroves and, in particular, to the productive area in the mangrove-water fringe that is used as nursery and/or feeding grounds by many commercial species. Mangrove-related fish and crab species account for 32% of the small-scale fisheries landings in the region. The annual economic median value of these fisheries is US $37,500 per hectare of mangrove fringe, falling within the higher end of values previously calculated worldwide for all mangrove services together. The ten-year discounted value of one hectare of fringe is >300 times the official cost set by the Mexican government. The destruction of mangroves has a strong economic impact on local fishing communities and on food production in the region. Our valuation of the services provided by mangroves may prove useful in making appropriate decisions for a more efficient and sustainable use of wetlands.discounted values ͉ economic benefits ͉ ecosystem services ͉ small-scale fisheries ͉ Rhizophora fringe forest

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Non‐linear thresholds characterize the relationship between reef fishes and mangrove habitat

et al. 2017

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. 2017. Non-linear thresholds characterize the relationship between reef fishes and mangrove habitat. Ecosphere 8(9):e01943. 10. 1002/ecs2.1943 Abstract. A significant obstacle to evaluating the importance of mangrove habitat to coral reef fishes has been the difficulty of disentangling its effects from other subtidal/nearshore habitats or human population pressures. Florida's seascape, unlike most others, has been extensively surveyed and mapped, and there are reliable estimates of human population density. Despite many studies that have correlated reef fish abundance with nearby mangrove habitat, some researchers continue to question the importance of mangroves to reef fishes. Previous studies that have investigated the mangrove-reef fish subsidy effect have applied methods that either compared averages or examined linear relationships; yet there is a body of literature that indicates that the effects of habitat are characterized by thresholds and limiting functions. Here, we employed a generalized additive model to investigate whether species richness of 106 mangrove-associated reef fishes is related to thresholds in the extent of nearby mangrove forests along the Florida Keys Reef Tract. In addition, we used linear discriminant analyses (LDAs) to examine the relationships between the occurrence of 77 reef fish species and extent of Florida mangrove forests. We found that after accounting for confounding factors, at scales <20 km 2 , species richness declines with decreasing mangrove extent, whereas richness increases with increasing mangrove extent at scales >80 km 2 . Results of our LDA suggested that at least 49 reef fish species (64% of focal species) were associated with higher nearby mangrove forest extent. Our results indicate that of all habitat attributes considered, mangroves played the most substantial role in the diversity of nearby reef fish populations. These apparent thresholds (i.e., non-linearities) in the extent of mangrove forests should be incorporated into fisheries critical habitat management and emphasize the need to consider non-linear relationships between fishes and their habitat.

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The relationship of reef fish densities to the proximity of mangrove and seagrass nurseries

Cited by 146 publications

References 29 publications

Indo-Pacific seagrass beds and mangroves contribute to fish density and diversity on adjacent coral reefs

Indo-Pacific seagrass beds and mangroves contribute to fish density and diversity on adjacent coral reefs

Mangroves in the Gulf of California increase fishery yields

Non‐linear thresholds characterize the relationship between reef fishes and mangrove habitat

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