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Tropicalization of temperate reef fish communities facilitated by urchin grazing and diversity of thermal affinities
Citation
Schuster, JM and Stuart-Smith, RD and Edgar, GJ and Bates, AE, Tropicalization of temperate reef fish communities facilitated by urchin grazing and diversity of thermal affinities, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31, (5) pp. 995-1005. ISSN 1466-822X (2022) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Abstract
Aim
Global declines in structurally complex habitats are reshaping both land- and seascapes in directions that affect the responses of biological communities to warming. Here, we test whether widespread loss of kelp habitats through sea urchin overgrazing systematically changes the sensitivity of fish communities to warming.
Location
Global temperate latitudes.
Time period
Modern.
Major taxa studied
Fishes.
Methods
Community shifts in thermal affinity related to habitat were assessed by simulating and comparing fish communities from 2271 surveys across 15 ecoregions.
Results
We found that fishes in kelp and urchin barrens differed in realized thermal affinities and range sizes, but only in regions where species pools had high variability in the thermal affinities of species. Barrens on warm temperate reefs host relatively more warm-affinity fish species than neighbouring kelp beds, highlighting the acceleration of tropicalization processes facilitated by urchin grazing. In contrast, proportionally more cool-affinity fishes colonize barrens at high temperate latitudes, contributing to community lags with ocean warming in these regions.
Main conclusions
Our findings implicate urchins as drivers of ecological change, in part by affecting ecological resilience to warming.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | climate change, community temperature index, habitat change, kelp forest, species distribution, thermal sensitivity, urchin barren |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecology |
| Research Field: | Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
| Objective Division: | Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards |
| Objective Group: | Understanding climate change |
| Objective Field: | Global effects of climate change (excl. Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and the South Pacific) (excl. social impacts) |
| UTAS Author: | Stuart-Smith, RD (Dr Rick Stuart-Smith) |
| UTAS Author: | Edgar, GJ (Professor Graham Edgar) |
| ID Code: | 150886 |
| Year Published: | 2022 |
| Deposited By: | Ecology and Biodiversity |
| Deposited On: | 2022-07-04 |
| Last Modified: | 2022-11-09 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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