Spatio-temporal patterns of recruitment of labroid fishes (Pisces: Labridae and Scaridae) to damselfish territories |
| |
Authors: | Alison L Green |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Marine Biology, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia;(2) Present address: 51 Mons School Road, Buderim, Queensland, 4556, Australia (e-mail |
| |
Abstract: | Recent studies have shown that recruitment variability is an important process structuring reef fish assemblages. The aim
of this study is to describe the spatio-temporal patterns of recruitment of three abundant labroid taxa (Coris schroederi,
Halichoeres melanurus and Scarus spp.), using damselfish territories as replicate units of habitat. Temporal recruitment patterns
of each taxa were consistent among three sites along 2 km of reef tract, with small differences among sites probably the result
of hydrological or random factors operating at that scale. Recruitment of only one species (C. schroederi) showed consistent
differences in the magnitude of recruitment among sites, which was probably due to an overriding effect of habitat selection
for the location of the territories on the reef profile at one site. Two taxa, C. schroederi and Scarus spp., recruited in
low to moderate rates over many weeks with moderate recruitment peaks detected in one year only. This pattern may be characteristic
of many labroid species that have protracted periods of production of larvae. In contrast, H. melanurus recruited in a single
short pulse of high magnitude each summer, which suggests that production of larvae by this species may occur over a more
restricted period of time. No strong pattern of lunar entrainment of recruitment was detected for any taxa, which may be due
to a lack of lunar periodicity in production of larvae. Further studies are now required to identify the processes that are
important in determining patterns of labroid recruitment.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
| |
Keywords: | coral reef fish population dynamics recruitment variability damselfish territories |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|