Habitat reserves can promote ecological resilience to climate variability by supporting intact trophic webs and largebodied individuals^1–3. 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 Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Ecology
Research Field:	Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology)
Objective Division:	Environment
Objective Group:	Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity
Objective Field:	Marine Flora, Fauna and 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:	60
Deposited By:	Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration
Deposited On:	2014-02-04
Last Modified:	2017-11-01
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