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Mellin et al 2016 Nat Com.pdf (12.5 MB)

Humans and seasonal climate variability threaten large-bodied coral reef fish with small ranges

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posted on 2023-05-18, 16:38 authored by Mellin, C, Mouillot, C, Kulbicki, M, McClanahan, TR, Vigliola, L, Bradshaw, CJA, Brainard, RE, Chabanet, P, Graham EdgarGraham Edgar, Fordham, DA, Friedlander, AM, Parravicini, V, Sequeria, AMM, Richard Stuart-SmithRichard Stuart-Smith, Wantiez, L, Caley, MJ
Coral reefs are among the most species-rich and threatened ecosystems on Earth, yet the extent to which human stressors determine species occurrences, compared with biogeography or environmental conditions, remains largely unknown. With ever-increasing human-mediated disturbances on these ecosystems, an important question is not only how many species can inhabit local communities, but also which biological traits determine species that can persist (or not) above particular disturbance thresholds. Here we show that human pressure and seasonal climate variability are disproportionately and negatively associated with the occurrence of large-bodied and geographically small-ranging fishes within local coral reef communities. These species are 67% less likely to occur where human impact and temperature seasonality exceed critical thresholds, such as in the marine biodiversity hotspot: the Coral Triangle. Our results identify the most sensitive species and critical thresholds of human and climatic stressors, providing opportunity for targeted conservation intervention to prevent local extinctions.

Funding

Department of Environment and Energy (Cwth)

History

Publication title

Nature Communications

Volume

7

Article number

10491

Number

10491

Pagination

1-9

ISSN

2041-1723

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems

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