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Disturbance and distribution gradients influence resource availability and feeding behaviours in corallivore fishes following a warm-water anomaly.

ABSTRACT: Understanding interactions between spatial gradients in disturbances, species distributions and species' resilience mechanisms is critical to identifying processes that mediate environmental change. On coral reefs, a global expansion of coral bleaching is likely to drive spatiotemporal pulses in resource quality for obligate coral associates. Using technical diving and statistical modelling we evaluated how depth gradients in coral distribution, coral bleaching, and competitor density interact with the quality, preference and use of coral resources by corallivore fishes immediately following a warm-water anomaly. Bleaching responses varied among coral genera and depths but attenuated substantially between 3 and 47 m for key prey genera (Acropora and Pocillopora). While total coral cover declined with depth, the cover of pigmented corals increased slightly. The abundances of three focal obligate-corallivore butterflyfish species also decreased with depth and were not related to spatial patterns in coral bleaching. Overall, all species selectively foraged on pigmented corals. However, the most abundant species avoided feeding on bleached corals more successfully in deeper waters, where bleaching prevalence and conspecific densities were lower. These results suggest that, as coral bleaching increases, energy trade-offs related to distributions and resource acquisition will vary with depth for some coral-associated species.

SUBMITTER: MacDonald C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8654952 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Cities are socioecological systems that filter and select species, therefore establishing unique species assemblages and biotic interactions. Urban ecosystems can host richer wild bee communities than highly intensified agricultural areas, specifically in resource-rich urban green spaces such as allotments and family gardens. At the same time, urban beekeeping has boomed in many European cities, raising concerns that the fast addition of a large number of managed bees could deplete the existing floral resources, triggering competition between wild bees and honeybees. Here, we studied the interplay between resource availability and the number of honeybees at local and landscape scales and how this relationship influences wild bee diversity. We collected wild bees and honeybees in a pollination experiment using four standardized plant species with distinct floral morphologies. We performed the experiment in 23 urban gardens in the city of Zurich (Switzerland), distributed along gradients of urban and local management intensity, and measured functional traits related to resource use. At each site, we quantified the feeding niche partitioning (calculated as the average distance in the multidimensional trait space) between the wild bee community and the honeybee population. Using multilevel structural equation models (SEM), we tested direct and indirect effects of resource availability, urban beekeeping, and wild bees on the community feeding niche partitioning. We found an increase in feeding niche partitioning with increasing wild bee species richness. Moreover, feeding niche partitioning tended to increase in experimental sites with lower resource availability at the landscape scale, which had lower abundances of honeybees. However, beekeeping intensity at the local and landscape scales did not directly influence community feeding niche partitioning or wild bee species richness. In addition, wild bee species richness was positively influenced by local resource availability, whereas local honeybee abundance was positively affected by landscape resource availability. Overall, these results suggest that direct competition for resources was not a main driver of the wild bee community. Due to the key role of resource availability in maintaining a diverse bee community, our study encourages cities to monitor floral resources to better manage urban beekeeping and help support urban pollinators.

Dataset Information

Disturbance and distribution gradients influence resource availability and feeding behaviours in corallivore fishes following a warm-water anomaly.

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