Dataset Information

Global reef fish richness gradients emerge from divergent and scale-dependent component changes.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity varies from place to place due to environmental and historical factors. To improve our understanding of how history and the environment influence observed patterns, we need to address the limitations of the most commonly used biodiversity metric, species richness. Here, we show that scale-dependent dissections of species richness into components of total abundance, species relative abundances and spatial aggregations of species reveal that two well-known biogeographic reef fish species richness gradients emerge from very different underlying component patterns. Latitudinal richness is underpinned by scale-independent patterns of total and relative abundances, suggesting ecological constraints scale up to determine abundances within communities. In contrast, the longitudinal gradient of species richness typically attributed to historical biogeography only emerges at the largest scale and is accompanied by a similar pattern of relative abundances, suggesting that site-to-site compositional variation leading to species aggregation (i.e. a component of ?-diversity) underlies this gradient. Examining relationships among the components that underpin biodiversity gradients reveals new patterns that can better identify processes influencing patterns of biodiversity.

SUBMITTER: Blowes SA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5719164 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Global reef fish richness gradients emerge from divergent and scale-dependent component changes.

Blowes Shane A SA Belmaker Jonathan J Chase Jonathan M JM

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20171101 1867

Biodiversity varies from place to place due to environmental and historical factors. To improve our understanding of how history and the environment influence observed patterns, we need to address the limitations of the most commonly used biodiversity metric, species richness. Here, we show that scale-dependent dissections of species richness into components of total abundance, species relative abundances and spatial aggregations of species reveal that two well-known biogeographic reef fish spec ...[more]

PMID: 29142110

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Project description:Several studies conducted at the scale of islands, or small sections of continental coastlines, have suggested that mangrove habitats serve to enhance fish abundances on coral reefs, mainly by providing nursery grounds for several ontogenetically-migrating species. However, evidence of such enhancement at a regional scale has not been reported, and recently, some researchers have questioned the mangrove-reef subsidy effect. In the present study, using two different regression approaches, we pursued two questions related to mangrove-reef connectivity at the Caribbean regional scale: (1) Are reef fish abundances limited by mangrove forest area?; and (2) Are mean reef fish abundances proportional to mangrove forest area after taking human population density and latitude into account? Specifically, we tested for Caribbean-wide mangrove forest area effects on the abundances of 12 reef fishes that have been previously characterized as "mangrove-dependent". Analyzed were data from an ongoing, long-term (20-year) citizen-scientist fish monitoring program; coastal human population censuses; and several wetland forest information sources. Quantile regression results supported the notion that mangrove forest area limits the abundance of eight of the 12 fishes examined. Linear mixed-effects regression results, which considered potential human (fishing and habitat degradation) and latitudinal influences, suggested that average reef fish densities of at least six of the 12 focal fishes were directly proportional to mangrove forest area. Recent work questioning the mangrove-reef fish subsidy effect likely reflects a failure to: (1) focus analyses on species that use mangroves as nurseries, (2) consider more than the mean fish abundance response to mangrove forest extent; and/or (3) quantitatively account for potentially confounding human impacts, such as fishing pressure and habitat degradation. Our study is the first to demonstrate at a large regional scale (i.e., the Wider Caribbean) that greater mangrove forest size generally functions to increase the densities on neighboring reefs of those fishes that use these shallow, vegetated habitats as nurseries.

Dataset Information

Global reef fish richness gradients emerge from divergent and scale-dependent component changes.

Publications

Global reef fish richness gradients emerge from divergent and scale-dependent component changes.

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