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Waldock_et_al-2019-Ecology_Letters.pdf (14.09 MB)

The shape of abundance distributions across temperature gradients in reef fishes

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 01:37 authored by Waldock, C, Richard Stuart-SmithRichard Stuart-Smith, Graham EdgarGraham Edgar, Bird, TJ, Bates, AE
Improving predictions of ecological responses to climate change requires understanding how local abundance relates to temperature gradients, yet many factors influence local abundance in wild populations. We evaluated the shape of thermal‐abundance distributions using 98 422 abundance estimates of 702 reef fish species worldwide. We found that curved ceilings in local abundance related to sea temperatures for most species, where local abundance declined from realised thermal ‘optima’ towards warmer and cooler environments. Although generally supporting the abundant‐centre hypothesis, many species also displayed asymmetrical thermal‐abundance distributions. For many tropical species, abundances did not decline at warm distribution edges due to an unavailability of warmer environments at the equator. Habitat transitions from coral to macroalgal dominance in subtropical zones also influenced abundance distribution shapes. By quantifying the factors constraining species’ abundance, we provide an important empirical basis for improving predictions of community re‐structuring in a warmer world.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

Ecology Letters

Volume

22

Issue

4

Pagination

685-696

ISSN

1461-023X

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Place of publication

9600 Garsington Rd, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox4 2Dg

Rights statement

© 2019 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Marine biodiversity; Ecosystem adaptation to climate change