| Literature DB >> 25629532 |
Igor C S Cruz1, Miguel Loiola2, Tiago Albuquerque3, Rodrigo Reis2, José de Anchieta C C Nunes4, James D Reimer5, Masaru Mizuyama5, Ruy K P Kikuchi3, Joel C Creed6.
Abstract
Consequences of reef phase shifts on fish communities remain poorly understood. Studies on the causes, effects and consequences of phase shifts on reef fish communities have only been considered for coral-to-macroalgae shifts. Therefore, there is a large information gap regarding the consequences of novel phase shifts and how these kinds of phase shifts impact on fish assemblages. This study aimed to compare the fish assemblages on reefs under normal conditions (relatively high cover of corals) to those which have shifted to a dominance of the zoantharian Palythoa cf. variabilis on coral reefs in Todos os Santos Bay (TSB), Brazilian eastern coast. We examined eight reefs, where we estimated cover of corals and P. cf. variabilis and coral reef fish richness, abundance and body size. Fish richness differed significantly between normal reefs (48 species) and phase-shift reefs (38 species), a 20% reduction in species. However there was no difference in fish abundance between normal and phase shift reefs. One fish species, Chaetodon striatus, was significantly less abundant on normal reefs. The differences in fish assemblages between different reef phases was due to differences in trophic groups of fish; on normal reefs carnivorous fishes were more abundant, while on phase shift reefs mobile invertivores dominated.Entities:
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Year: 2015 PMID: 25629532 PMCID: PMC4309678 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116944
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Fig 1Sampling stations in Todos os Santos Bay.
Reefs under normal conditions are represented by white circles while reefs under phase shift (high zoantharian cover) are signed by black circles.
Fig 2Probabilities of numbers of fishes species by number of samples with (a) number of species observed (Sobs) in normal (NR) and phase shift (PS) reefs with their respective confidence intervals (95%), and (b) estimators of species richness of reefs in phase shift (PS) in comparison with the number of species observed in normal reef (NR) and its confidence interval less than 95%.
Dissimilarity between the trophic structure of reef fish on normal and phase shift (high zoantharian cover) reefs calculated by Similarity Analysis.
| Average dissimilarity = 41.39 | Normal reefs | Phase shift | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | AvDens. | Av.Dens. | Av.Diss | Diss/SD | Contrib% | Cum.% |
| Mobile invertivores | 81.5 | 322.75 | 22.2 | 2.24 | 53.63 | 53.63 |
| Sessile invertivores | 166 | 107.25 | 8.22 | 1.2 | 19.86 | 73.49 |
| Carnivores | 133.25 | 105.25 | 6.09 | 1.32 | 14.72 | 88.21 |
| Territorial herbivores | 25.5 | 32.25 | 2.08 | 1.25 | 5.03 | 93.24 |
AvDens – Average of Density, AvDiss – Average of Dissimilarity, Diss/SD – Dissimilarity Standard Deviation, Contrib% – Percentage of Contribution to Dissimilarity, Cum.% – Cumulative Percentage Contribution to Dissimilarity.
Fig 3Multidimensional scaling of trophic structure of reef fishes assemblage on normal reefs (represented by dark balls) and phase shift reefs (dominated by the zoantharian Palythoa cf. variabilis), which in figure are represented by asterisks.
Fig 4Density of fish per reef, where a point represents each station-value. The mean value for each group of reef is represented by the dash line and asterisk (*) marks the graph that had a significant difference (p < 0.05) according the Student's t test.