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Resilience and signatures of tropicalization in protected reef fish communities
Citation
Bates, AE and Barrett, NS and Stuart-Smith, RD and Holbrook, NJ and Thompson, PA and Edgar, GJ, Resilience and signatures of tropicalization in protected reef fish communities, Nature Climate Change, 4, (1) pp. 62-67. ISSN 1758-6798 (2014) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2014 Macmillan Publishers
Abstract
Habitat reserves can promote ecological resilience to climate
variability by supporting intact trophic webs and largebodied
individuals1–3. Protection may also alter community
responses to long-term climate change by offering habitat
for range-shifting species4. Here we analyse the species
richness, diversity and functional traits of temperate reef fish
communities over 20 years in a global warming hotspot and
compare patterns in a marine reserve with nearby sites open
to fishing. Species richness and diversity oscillated strongly
on the decadal scale. Long-term warming signatures were also
present as increasing functional trait richness and functional
diversity, driven in part by a general increase in herbivores.
Nevertheless, reserve sites were distinguished from fished
sites by displaying: greater stability in some aspects of
biodiversity; recovery of large-bodied temperate species;
resistance to colonization by subtropical vagrants; and less
pronounced increases in the community-averaged temperature
affinity. We empirically demonstrate that protection from
fishing has buffered fluctuations in biodiversity and provided
resistance to the initial stages of tropicalization.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Marine systems and management |
Objective Field: | Marine biodiversity |
UTAS Author: | Bates, AE (Dr Amanda Bates) |
UTAS Author: | Barrett, NS (Associate Professor Neville Barrett) |
UTAS Author: | Stuart-Smith, RD (Dr Rick Stuart-Smith) |
UTAS Author: | Holbrook, NJ (Professor Neil Holbrook) |
UTAS Author: | Edgar, GJ (Professor Graham Edgar) |
ID Code: | 88482 |
Year Published: | 2014 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 75 |
Deposited By: | Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration |
Deposited On: | 2014-02-04 |
Last Modified: | 2017-11-01 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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