Rank change and growth within social hierarchies of the orange clownfish, Amphiprion percula
Type
ArticleAuthors
Fitzgerald, Lucy
Harrison, Hugo B.

Coker, Darren James

Saenz-Agudelo, Pablo

Srinivasan, M.

Majoris, John E.

Boström Einarsson, L.

Pujol, Benoit

Bennett-Smith, Morgan

Thorrold, Simon R.

Planes, S.

Jones, G. P.

Berumen, Michael L.

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) DivisionEnvironmental Science and Engineering Program
Marine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Makkah Province, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Reef Ecology Lab
Date
2022-10-05Submitted Date
2021-08-11Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/672108
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Social hierarchies within groups define the distribution of resources and provide benefits that support the collective group or favor dominant members. The progression of individuals through social hierarchies is a valuable characteristic for quantifying population dynamics. On coral reefs, some clownfish maintain size-based hierarchical communities where individuals queue through social ranks. The cost of waiting in a lower-ranked position is outweighed by the reduced risk of eviction and mortality. The orange clownfish, Amphiprion percula, maintains stable social groups with subordinate individuals queuing to be part of the dominant breeding pair. Strong association with their host anemone, complex social interactions, and relatively low predation rates make them ideal model organisms to assess changes in group dynamics through time in their natural environment. Here, we investigate the rank changes and isometric growth rates of A. percula from 247 naturally occurring social groups in Kimbe Island, Papua New Guinea (5° 12′ 13.54″ S, 150° 22′ 32.69″ E). We used DNA profiling to assign and track individuals over eight years between 2011 and 2019. Over half of the individuals survived alongside two or three members of their original social group, with twelve breeding pairs persisting over the study period. Half of the surviving individuals increased in rank and experienced double the growth rate of those that maintained their rank. Examining rank change in a wild fish population provides new insights into the complex social hierarchies of reef fishes and their role in social evolution.Citation
Fitzgerald, L. M., Harrison, H. B., Coker, D. J., Sáenz-Agudelo, P., Srinivasan, M., Majoris, J. E., Boström Einarsson, L., Pujol, B., Bennett-Smith, M., Thorrold, S. R., Planes, S., Jones, G. P., & Berumen, M. L. (2022). Rank change and growth within social hierarchies of the orange clownfish, Amphiprion percula. Marine Biology, 169(10). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04117-9Sponsors
We would like to thank everyone who assisted us in the field, including B. Cresswell and G. Galbraith. Additionally, we acknowledge the Mahonia Na Dari Research Station and the crew of the M. V. Febrina for providing logistical support. We thank U. Langner (KAUST), who assisted with the maps. Lastly, we also thank the anonymous reviewers for their help and feedback on this paper. This research was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (baseline funds to MLB), the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (DP190103056 to GPJ), and the Australian Research Council. HBH was supported by an ARC DECRA Fellowship (DE160101141).Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLCJournal
Marine BiologyAdditional Links
https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00227-022-04117-9ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s00227-022-04117-9
Scopus Count
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Archived with thanks to Marine Biology under a Creative Commons license, details at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0