Sterling B. Tebbett, Helen F. Yan, Lucas L. Lutzenkirchen, Alexandre C. Siqueira, David R. Bellwood
{"title":"Global patterns of herbivorous reef fish productivity: the role of Prionurus laticlavius in the Galápagos","authors":"Sterling B. Tebbett, Helen F. Yan, Lucas L. Lutzenkirchen, Alexandre C. Siqueira, David R. Bellwood","doi":"10.1007/s00338-024-02473-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Herbivorous fishes play important roles on coral reefs, acting as key trophic conduits of primary productivity. Whilst these roles are widely appreciated on tropical reefs, the relative contribution of fishes which inhabit marginal reefs, such as <i>Prionurus</i> surgeonfishes, is not well understood. Here, we examine the extent to which herbivorous fish productivity varies amongst global ecoregions, specifically considering the relative contribution of <i>Prionurus</i>. We also compare the productivity of <i>Prionurus</i> to that of other herbivorous fishes in relation to water temperatures. Our analysis revealed that the Eastern Galápagos Islands support the highest levels of herbivorous fish productivity recorded to date, with <i>Prionurus laticlavius</i> accounting for over 94% of that productivity. Moreover, <i>Prionurus</i> productivity peaked at relatively cool water temperatures (~ 22–25 °C), although patterns were driven by <i>P. laticlavius</i>. These results highlight the exceptional herbivorous fish productivity in the Eastern Galápagos Islands and the disproportionate contribution of <i>P. laticlavius</i> in this locality.</p>","PeriodicalId":10821,"journal":{"name":"Coral Reefs","volume":"135 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Coral Reefs","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02473-0","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Herbivorous fishes play important roles on coral reefs, acting as key trophic conduits of primary productivity. Whilst these roles are widely appreciated on tropical reefs, the relative contribution of fishes which inhabit marginal reefs, such as Prionurus surgeonfishes, is not well understood. Here, we examine the extent to which herbivorous fish productivity varies amongst global ecoregions, specifically considering the relative contribution of Prionurus. We also compare the productivity of Prionurus to that of other herbivorous fishes in relation to water temperatures. Our analysis revealed that the Eastern Galápagos Islands support the highest levels of herbivorous fish productivity recorded to date, with Prionurus laticlavius accounting for over 94% of that productivity. Moreover, Prionurus productivity peaked at relatively cool water temperatures (~ 22–25 °C), although patterns were driven by P. laticlavius. These results highlight the exceptional herbivorous fish productivity in the Eastern Galápagos Islands and the disproportionate contribution of P. laticlavius in this locality.
期刊介绍:
Coral Reefs, the Journal of the International Coral Reef Society, presents multidisciplinary literature across the broad fields of reef studies, publishing analytical and theoretical papers on both modern and ancient reefs. These encourage the search for theories about reef structure and dynamics, and the use of experimentation, modeling, quantification and the applied sciences.
Coverage includes such subject areas as population dynamics; community ecology of reef organisms; energy and nutrient flows; biogeochemical cycles; physiology of calcification; reef responses to natural and anthropogenic influences; stress markers in reef organisms; behavioural ecology; sedimentology; diagenesis; reef structure and morphology; evolutionary ecology of the reef biota; palaeoceanography of coral reefs and coral islands; reef management and its underlying disciplines; molecular biology and genetics of coral; aetiology of disease in reef-related organisms; reef responses to global change, and more.