Human activity selectively impacts the ecosystem roles of parrotfishes on coral reefs
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)Date
2011-11-16Online Publication Date
2011-11-16Print Publication Date
2012-04-22Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/561924
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Show full item recordAbstract
Around the globe, coral reefs and other marine ecosystems are increasingly overfished. Conventionally, studies of fishing impacts have focused on the population size and dynamics of targeted stocks rather than the broader ecosystem-wide effects of harvesting. Using parrotfishes as an example, we show how coral reef fish populations respond to escalating fishing pressure across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Based on these fish abundance data, we infer the potential impact on four key functional roles performed by parrotfishes. Rates of bioerosion and coral predation are highly sensitive to human activity, whereas grazing and sediment removal are resilient to fishing. Our results offer new insights into the vulnerability and resilience of coral reefs to the ever-growing human footprint. The depletion of fishes causes differential decline of key ecosystem functions, radically changing the dynamics of coral reefs and setting the stage for future ecological surprises. © 2011 The Royal Society.Sponsors
We thank J. Tanner, S. Wismer, J. Hodge and M. Sheaves for technical assistance, and N. Graham, M. Pratchett, J. Cinner, S. Foale and two anonymous reviewers for helpful discussions or comments on earlier drafts. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council.Publisher
The Royal SocietyPubMed ID
22090383PubMed Central ID
PMC3282342Additional Links
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3282342ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1098/rspb.2011.1906
Scopus Count
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