TY - JOUR
T1 - Reef fishes weaken dietary preferences after coral mortality, altering resource overlap
AU - Semmler, Robert F.
AU - Sanders, Nathan J.
AU - CaraDonna, Paul J.
AU - Baird, Andrew H
AU - Jing, Xin
AU - Robinson, James P.W.
AU - Graham, Nicholas A.J.
AU - Keith, Sally A
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council [SAK, grant number NE/S00050X/1] and Villum Fonden (SAK, grant number 10114). For field assistance and logistical support, we thank T. Naruse and R. Yoshida of the University of the Ryukyus Iriomote Field Station. We would also like to thank Lancaster University Faculty of Science and Technology for funding this work under a PhD Fellowship (RFS). Additional funding was provided by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (AHB).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - The direct and indirect effects of climate change can affect, and are mediated by, changes in animal behaviour. However, we often lack sufficient empirical data to assess how large-scale disturbances affect the behaviour of individuals, which scales up to influence communities. Here, we investigate these patterns by focusing on the foraging behaviour of butterflyfishes, prominent coral-feeding fishes on coral reefs, before and after a mass coral bleaching event in Iriomote, Japan. In response to 65% coral mortality, coral-feeding fishes broadened their diets, showing a significant weakening of dietary preferences across species. Multiple species reduced their consumption of bleaching-sensitive Acropora corals, while expanding their diets to consume a variety of other coral genera. This resulted in decreased dietary overlap among butterflyfishes. Behavioural changes in response to bleaching may increase resilience of coral reef fishes in the short term. However, coral mortality has reduced populations of coral-feeders world-wide, indicating the changes in feeding behaviour we document here may not be sufficient to ensure long-term resilience of butterflyfishes on coral reefs.
AB - The direct and indirect effects of climate change can affect, and are mediated by, changes in animal behaviour. However, we often lack sufficient empirical data to assess how large-scale disturbances affect the behaviour of individuals, which scales up to influence communities. Here, we investigate these patterns by focusing on the foraging behaviour of butterflyfishes, prominent coral-feeding fishes on coral reefs, before and after a mass coral bleaching event in Iriomote, Japan. In response to 65% coral mortality, coral-feeding fishes broadened their diets, showing a significant weakening of dietary preferences across species. Multiple species reduced their consumption of bleaching-sensitive Acropora corals, while expanding their diets to consume a variety of other coral genera. This resulted in decreased dietary overlap among butterflyfishes. Behavioural changes in response to bleaching may increase resilience of coral reef fishes in the short term. However, coral mortality has reduced populations of coral-feeders world-wide, indicating the changes in feeding behaviour we document here may not be sufficient to ensure long-term resilience of butterflyfishes on coral reefs.
KW - bottom-up effects
KW - coral bleaching
KW - dietary preferences
KW - foraging behaviour
KW - resource partitioning
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U2 - 10.1111/1365-2656.13796
DO - 10.1111/1365-2656.13796
M3 - Article
C2 - 35974677
AN - SCOPUS:85135930495
SN - 0021-8790
VL - 91
SP - 2125
EP - 2134
JO - Journal of Animal Ecology
JF - Journal of Animal Ecology
IS - 10
ER -
