Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

How flexible are habitat specialists? Short-term space use in obligate coral-dwelling damselfishes

  • Original research
  • Published:
Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

As habitats change, highly specialised species may die or be forced to relocate. However, some obligate coral-dwelling damselfishes appear to survive the localized extinction of their primary habitat, branching coral, caused by coral bleaching. To address this apparent paradox, we documented the spatial behaviour of obligate coral-dwellers in relation to habitat quality. Focussing on two obligate coral-dwelling damselfishes (Pomacentrus moluccensis and Chromis viridis), we used KUDs (Kernel Utilisation Distributions) to quantify fishes’ short-term space use (daily 5 min observations across 6 days) and related it to live coral cover and structural complexity derived from 3D photogrammetry. Specifically, we calculated movement extent (95% KUD), core areas (50% KUD) and the temporal consistency of occupied areas across consecutive days. Structural complexity had no effect on space use. The effect of live coral cover was significant but weak and dependent on fish body-size: core areas increased with decreasing live coral cover for large fishes; smaller fishes showed little response. In contrast to weak habitat effects, there were strong differences across sites. At one site, average core areas increased three-fold to 1.1 m2 for P. moluccensis and over 60-fold for C. viridis, from 1.14 m2 to an average core area of 92.34 m2 and a maximum recorded extent of 1471.4 m2. These findings may help explain these fishes’ apparent, unexpected resilience to habitat loss. Obligate coral-dwelling fishes may prefer branching live coral, but their ‘obligate’ dependence may be more flexible and context dependent. As ecosystems reconfigure, plasticity in fine-scale spatial behaviour may be critical for the persistence of fish populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Code availability

Code is available upon request to the corresponding author.

Data availability

The data is publicly available through James Cook University’s online data repository, Research Data JCU (https://doi.org/10.25903/g9ts-pa94). Additional materials and code are available upon request to the corresponding author.

References

  • Allen CR, Angeler DG, Cumming GS, Folke C, Twidwell D, Uden DR, Bennett J (2016) Quantifying spatial resilience. J ApplEcol 53:625–635

    Google Scholar 

  • Álvarez-Noriega M, Baird AH, Bridge TCL, Dornelas M, Fontoura L, Pizarro O, Precoda K, Torres-Pulliza D, Woods RM, Zawada K, Madin JS (2018) Contrasting patterns of changes in abundance following a bleaching event between juvenile and adult scleractinian corals. Coral Reefs 37:527–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood DR, Hughes TP, Hoey AS (2006) Sleeping functional role drives coral-reef recovery. CurrBiol 16:2434–2439

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood DR, Streit RP, Brandl SJ, Tebbett SB (2019a) The meaning of the term ‘function’ in ecology: a coral reef perspective. FunctEcol 33:948–961

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood DR, Pratchett MS, Morrison TH, Gurney GG, Hughes TP, Álvarez-Romero JG, Day JC, Grantham R, Grech A, Hoey AS, Jones GP, Pandolfi JM, Tebbett SB, Techera E, Weeks R, Cumming GS (2019b) Coral reef conservation in the Anthropocene: Confronting spatial mismatches and prioritizing functions. Biol Cons 236:604–615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Tzvi O, Abelson A, Polak O, Kiflawi M (2008) Habitat selection and the colonization of new territories by Chromisviridis. J Fish Biol 73:1005–1018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Booth DJ (2016) Ability to home in small site-attached coral reef fishes. J Fish Biol 89:1501–1506

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Börger L, Dalziel BD, Fryxell JM (2008) Are there general mechanisms of animal home range behaviour? A review and prospects for future research. EcolLett 11:637–650

    Google Scholar 

  • Boström-Einarsson L, Bonin MC, Munday PL, Jones GP (2018) Loss of live coral compromises predator-avoidance behaviour in coral reef damselfish. Sci Rep 8:7795

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Calenge C (2006) The package “adehabitat” for the R software: a tool for the analysis of space and habitat use by animals. Ecol Model 197:516–519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chase TJ, Pratchett MS, Hoogenboom MO (2020) Behavioral trade-offs and habitat associations of coral-dwelling damselfishes (family Pomacentridae). Mar EcolProgSer 633:141–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Coker DJ, Wilson SK, Pratchett MS (2014) Importance of live coral habitat for reef fishes. Rev Fish Biol Fish 24:89–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cumming DH, Cumming GS (2003) Ungulate community structure and ecological processes: body size, hoof area and trampling in African savannas. Oecologia 134:560–568

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elmqvist T, Folke C, Nyström M, Peterson G, Bengtsson J, Walker B, Norberg J (2003) Response diversity, ecosystem change, and resilience. Front Ecol Environ 1:488–494

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emslie MJ, Logan M, Cheal AJ (2019) The distribution of planktivorous damselfishes (Pomacentridae) on the great barrier reef and the relative influences of habitat and predation. Diversity 11:33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrari MCO, McCormick MI, Allan BJM, Chivers DP (2017) Not equal in the face of habitat change: closely related fishes differ in their ability to use predation-related information in degraded coral. Proc R Soc B BiolSci 284:20162758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fontoura L, Zawada KJA, D’agata S, Álvarez-Noriega M, Baird AH, Boutros N, Dornelas M, Luiz OJ, Madin JS, Maina JM, Pizarro O, Torres-Pulliza D, Woods RM, Madin EMP (2020) Climate-driven shift in coral morphological structure predicts decline of juvenile reef fishes. Glob Change Biol 26:557–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner N, Jones G (2016) Habitat specialisation, site fidelity and sociality predict homing success in coral reef cardinalfish. Mar EcolProgSer 558:81–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauff RPM, Bejarano S, Madduppa HH, Subhan B, Dugény EMA, Perdana YA, Ferse SCA (2018) Influence of predation risk on the sheltering behaviour of the coral-dwelling damselfish, Pomacentrusmoluccensis. Environ Biol Fishes 101:639–651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giffin AL, Rueger T, Jones GP (2019) Ontogenetic shifts in microhabitat use and coral selectivity in three coral reef fishes. Environ Biol Fishes 102:55–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goatley CHR, Bellwood DR (2016) Body size and mortality rates in coral reef fishes: a three-phase relationship. Proc R Soc B BiolSci 283:20161858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haines LJ, Côté IM (2019) Homing decisions reveal lack of risk perception by Caribbean damselfish of invasive lionfish. Biol Invasions 21:1657–1668

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayne DW (1949) Calculation of size of home range. J Mammal 30:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holbrook SJ, Forrester GE, Schmitt RJ (2000) Spatial patterns in abundance of a damselfish reflect availability of suitable habitat. Oecologia 122:109–120

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP, Barnes ML, Bellwood DR, Cinner JE, Cumming GS, Jackson JBC, Kleypas J, van de Leemput IA, Lough JM, Morrison TH, Palumbi SR, van Nes EH, Scheffer M (2017a) Coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature 546:82–90

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP, Kerry JT, Álvarez-Noriega M, Álvarez-Romero JG, Anderson KD, Baird AH, Babcock RC, Beger M, Bellwood DR, Berkelmans R, Bridge TC, Butler IR, Byrne M, Cantin NE, Comeau S, Connolly SR, Cumming GS, Dalton SJ, Diaz-Pulido G, Eakin CM, Figueira WF, Gilmour JP, Harrison HB, Heron SF, Hoey AS, Hobbs J-PA, Hoogenboom MO, Kennedy EV, Kuo C-y, Lough JM, Lowe RJ, Liu G, McCulloch MT, Malcolm HA, McWilliam MJ, Pandolfi JM, Pears RJ, Pratchett MS, Schoepf V, Simpson T, Skirving WJ, Sommer B, Torda G, Wachenfeld DR, Willis BL, Wilson SK (2017b) Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals. Nature 543:373

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones GP, McCormick MI, Srinivasan M, Eagle JV (2004) Coral decline threatens fish biodiversity in marine reserves. ProcNatlAcadSci USA 101(21):8251–8253

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kent MIA, Burns AL, Figueira WF, Mazue GPF, Porter AG, Wilson ADM, Ward AJW (2019) Risk balancing through selective use of social and physical information: a case study in the humbug damselfish. J Zool 308:235–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan JA, Goatley CHR, Brandl SJ, Tebbett SB, Bellwood DR (2017) Shelter use by large reef fishes: long-term occupancy and the impacts of disturbance. Coral Reefs 36:1123–1132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kok JE, Graham NA, Hoogenboom MO (2016) Climate-driven coral reorganisation influences aggressive behaviour in juvenile coral-reef fishes. Coral Reefs 35:473–483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lecchini D, Galzin R (2005) Spatial repartition and ontogenetic shifts in habitat use by coral reef fishes (Moorea, French Polynesia). Mar Biol 147:47–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCormick MI (1994) Comparison of field methods for measuring surface topography and their associations with a tropical reef fish assemblage. Mar EcolProgSer 112:87–96

    Google Scholar 

  • McCormick MI, Chivers DP, Allan BJM, Ferrari MCO (2017) Habitat degradation disrupts neophobia in juvenile coral reef fish. Glob Change Biol 23:719–727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDougall PT, Kramer DL (2006) Short-term behavioral consequences of territory relocation in a Caribbean damselfish, Stegastesdiencaeus. BehavEcol 18:53–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Morais RA, Bellwood DR (2019) Pelagic subsidies underpin fish productivity on a degraded coral reef. CurrBiol 29:1521-1527.e1526

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nash KL, Graham NAJ, Januchowski-Hartley FA, Bellwood DR (2012) Influence of habitat condition and competition on foraging behaviour of parrotfishes. Mar EcolProgSer 457:113–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Nash KL, Welsh JQ, Graham NA, Bellwood DR (2015a) Home-range allometry in coral reef fishes: comparison to other vertebrates, methodological issues and management implications. Oecologia 177:73–83

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nash KL, Graham NAJ, Jennings S, Wilson SK, Bellwood DR, Angeler D (2015b) Herbivore cross-scale redundancy supports response diversity and promotes coral reef resilience. J ApplEcol 53:646–655

    Google Scholar 

  • Oakley-Cogan A, Tebbett SB, Bellwood DR (2020) Habitat zonation on coral reefs: Structural complexity, nutritional resources and herbivorous fish distributions. PLoS ONE 15(6):e0233498

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pinheiro J, Bates D, DebRoy S, Sarkar D, Team RC (2018) Nlme: linear and nonlinear mixed effects models. R package version 3.1–137. R Found Stat Comput https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/nlme/index.html Accessed 6 Feb 2019

  • Ponton D, Loiseau N, Chabanet P (2012) Does light explain damselfish Chromisviridis abundances observed over coral colonies? J Fish Biol 80:2623–2628

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pratchett MS, Hoey AS, Wilson SK (2016) Habitat-use and Specialisation among coral reef damselfi shes biology of damselfishes. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp 102–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratchett MS, Thompson CA, Hoey AS, Cowman PF, Wilson SK (2018) Effects of coral bleaching and coral loss on the structure and function of reef fish assemblages. In: van Oppen MJH, Lough JM (eds) Coral bleaching: patterns, processes, causes and consequences. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 265–293

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • R-Core-Team (2019) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria URL https://www.R-project.org/

  • Richardson LE, Graham NAJ, Pratchett MS, Eurich JG, Hoey AS (2018) Mass coral bleaching causes biotic homogenization of reef fish assemblages. Glob Change Biol 24:3117–3129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rueger T, Gardiner NM, Jones GP (2016) Homing is not for everyone: displaced cardinalfish find a new place to live. J Fish Biol 89:2182–2188

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sale PF (1971) Extremely limited home range in a coral reef fish, Dascyllusaruanus (Pisces; Pomacentridae). Copeia 1971:324–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sale PF (1978) Coexistence of coral reef fishes—A lottery for living space. Environ Biol Fishes 3:85–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Streit RP, Bellwood DR (2017) High prevalence of homing behaviour among juvenile coral-reef fishes and the role of body size. Coral Reefs 36:1083–1095

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Streit RP, Bellwood DR (2018) Strong homing does not predict high site fidelity in juvenile reef fishes. Coral Reefs 37:99–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Streit RP, Cumming GS, Bellwood DR (2019) Patchy delivery of functions undermines functional redundancy in a high diversity system. FunctEcol 33:1144–1155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swihart RK, Slade NA, Bergstrom BJ (1988) Relating body size to the rate of home range use in mammals. Ecology 69:393–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tebbett SB, Streit RP, Bellwood DR (2020) A 3D perspective on sediment accumulation in algal turfs: Implications of coral reef flattening. J Ecol 108:70–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres-Pulliza D, Dornelas MA, Pizarro O, Bewley M, Blowes SA, Boutros N, Brambilla V, Chase TJ, Frank G, Friedman A, Hoogenboom MO, Williams S, Zawada KJA, Madin JS (2020) A geometric basis for surface habitat complexity and biodiversity. Nat EcolEvol 4:1495–1501

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker MA, Ord TJ, Rogers TL (2014) Evolutionary predictors of mammalian home range size: body mass, diet and the environment. Glob EcolBiogeogr 23:1105–1114

    Google Scholar 

  • Welsh JQ, Bellwood DR (2012) Spatial ecology of the steephead parrotfish (Chlorurusmicrorhinos): an evaluation using acoustic telemetry. Coral Reefs 31:55–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welsh JQ, Bellwood DR (2014) Herbivorous fishes, ecosystem function and mobile links on coral reefs. Coral Reefs 33:303–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welsh JQ, Bellwood DR (2015) Simulated macro-algal outbreak triggers a large-scale response on coral reefs. PLoS ONE 10:e0132895

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Welsh JQ, Goatley CHR, Bellwood DR (2013) The ontogeny of home ranges: evidence from coral reef fishes. Proc R Soc B BiolSci 280:20132066

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson SK, Burgess SC, Cheal AJ, Emslie M, Fisher R, Miller I, Polunin NVC, Sweatman HPA (2008) Habitat utilization by coral reef fish: implications for specialists vs. generalists in a changing environment. J AnimEcol 77:220–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Wismer S, Tebbett SB, Streit RP, Bellwood DR (2019a) Spatial mismatch in fish and coral loss following 2016 mass coral bleaching. Sci Total Environ 650:1487–1498

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wismer S, Tebbett SB, Streit RP, Bellwood DR (2019b) Young fishes persist despite coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef. CommunBiol 2:456

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuur A, Ieno EN, Walker N, Saveliev AA, Smith GM (2009) Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R. Springer Science & Business Media, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank R. Morais, S. Tebbett, V. Huertas, M. Mihalitsis, A. Siqueira, C. Bowden and W. Collins for helpful discussions, the staff at the Lizard Island Research Station for assistance in the field, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on a previous version of this manuscript. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) through grants to the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and to DRB (FL190100062) and by the Australian Government through an Endeavour Postgraduate scholarship to RPS.

Funding

This research was funded through research grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC) to the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and through a Laurate Fellowship to DRB (FL190100062).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

    Robert P. Streit, Christopher R. Hemingson & David R. Bellwood

  2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

    Robert P. Streit, Christopher R. Hemingson, Graeme S. Cumming & David R. Bellwood

Authors
  1. Robert P. Streit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christopher R. Hemingson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Graeme S. Cumming
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. David R. Bellwood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

RPS and DRB conceived the ideas, all authors contributed to designing the methodology of data collection and data analysis. RPS and CRH collected the data, RPS analysed the data and led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed to further revisions.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert P. Streit.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethics approval

This research was conducted in accordance with James Cook University Animal Ethics approval, number A2341.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (PDF 910 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Streit, R.P., Hemingson, C.R., Cumming, G.S. et al. How flexible are habitat specialists? Short-term space use in obligate coral-dwelling damselfishes. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 31, 381–398 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-021-09646-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-021-09646-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation