Effects of Marine Reserves versus Nursery Habitat Availability on Structure of Reef Fish Communities

AbstractMarine reserves are known to impact the biomass, biodiversity, and functions of coral reef fish communities, but the effect of protective management on fish traits is less explored. We used a time-series modelling approach to simultaneously evaluate the abundance, biomass, and traits of eight fish families over a chronosequence spanning 44 years of protection. We constructed a multivariate functional space based on six traits known to respond to management or disturbance and affect ecosystem processes: size, diet, position in the water column, gregariousness, reef association, and length at maturity. We show that biomass increased with a log-linear trend over the time-series, but abundance only increased after 20 years of closure, and with more variation among reserves. This difference is attributed to recovery rates being dependent on body sizes. Abundance-weighted traits and the associated multivariate space of the community change is driven by increased proportions over time of the trait categories: 7–15 cm body size; planktivorous; species low in the water column; medium-large schools; and species with high levels of reef association. These findings suggest that the trait compositions emerging after the cessation of fishing are novel and dynamic.

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Disentangling the Effects of Habitat and Protection on Coral Reef Fish Communities in Long-Established Marine Reserves

Formal Methods in Macro-Biology - Lecture Notes in Computer Science ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-10398-3_11 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 156-158

Author(s):

Dominique Pelletier ◽

Delphine Mallet ◽

Abigail Powel ◽

William Roman

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Reef Fish ◽

Coral Reef Fish ◽

Marine Reserves ◽

Fish Communities

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Effects of marine reserves on coral reef fish communities from five islands in New Caledonia

Coral Reefs ◽

10.1007/s003380050077 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 215-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

L. Wantiez ◽

P. Thollot ◽

M. Kulbicki

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Reef Fish ◽

Coral Reef Fish ◽

New Caledonia ◽

Marine Reserves ◽

Fish Communities

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Community changes of coral reef fishes in Bunaken National Park, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

AQUATIC SCIENCE & MANAGEMENT ◽

10.35800/jasm.1.2.2013.7273 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 117

Author(s):

Fakhrizal Setiawan ◽

Janny D Kusen ◽

Georis JF Kaligis

Keyword(s):

Reef Fish ◽

National Park ◽

Fish Community ◽

Time Series Data ◽

Coral Cover ◽

Fish Communities ◽

Reef Fishes ◽

Series Data ◽

Fish Community Structure ◽

Reef Fish Community

In order to look at changes in coral and reef fish communities during the period of 2006 to 2013, this research was carried out at Bunaken National Park (BNP) with 26 observation sites. The existing data and information of reef fish communities in the park generally could not be used as representative for describing the whole region. Percentage of coral cover and fish abundance during the study period shows that Bunaken Island is more similar to other locations. Reef fish community structure as seen from ecological index (H' at all sites being categorized, E category labile and low category C) shows the condition of the reef fish community is still good. Changes in the structure of reef fish communities showed declining conditions compared to 2006, and coral cover continued to decrease compared to 1998 and 2007. Good overall reef fish and coral cover have decreased; it is thought to be related to the pressure in BNP. Some of the pressures in the region were (i) increasing numbers of domestic as well as foreign visitors, (ii) increasing number of residents in the region, as well as the burden of waste and trash from the Bay of Manado. Penelitian dilakukan di Taman Nasional Bunaken (Utara dan Selatan) pada 26 lokasi pengamatan untuk menganalisis perubahan struktur komunitas ikan karang melalui kajian dari suatu time series data dari beberapa penelitian sebelumnya. Data primer mengenai ikan-ikan karang diperoleh melalui visual sensus bawah air yang bersamaan dengan observasi terumbu karang menggunakan point intercept transect. Nilai persentase tutupan karang dan kelimpahan ikan menunjukkan bahwa pada lokasi pengamatan Pulau Bunaken paling baik dibandingan lokasi lainnya. Struktur komunitas ikan karang yang dianalisis dengan indeks ekologi menunjukkan indeks keanekaragaman (H’) di semua site masuk kategori sedang, indeks kesamaan (E) kategori labil dan indeks Dominansi (C) kategori rendah. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kondisi komunitas ikan karang masih baik, sekalipun perubahan struktur komunitas ikan karang menunjukkan kondisi yang menurun dibandingkan tahun 2006, begitu juga tutupan karang yang terus turun dibandingkan tahun 1998 dan 2007. Secara keseluruhan baik ikan karang maupun tutupan karang mengalami penurunan, hal ini diduga terkait dengan tekanan yang dialami kawasan TN. Bunaken. Salah satu tekanan terhadap kawasan adalah jumlah turis dari dalam maupun luar negeri yang semakin meningkat tiap tahunnya, penambahan jumlah penduduk di dalam kawasan, serta beban limbah dan sampah dari Teluk Manado.

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