Probable Play Behavior in a Surgeonfish (Naso vlamingii )

I report an observation of possible play behavior in an individual captive Vlaming's unicornfish (Naso vlamingii). The fish was documented performing locomotory interactions with the filtered stream of water from the return nozzle in its aquarium. Such behaviors conform to existing definitions of play behavior. Animal play is traditionally imagined to be restricted to mammals and birds, with research on this type of behavior remaining scarce within other animals. This finding thus expands upon the ubiquity of play in understudied vertebrate taxa.&nbsp

Non-reef habitats in a tropical seascape: the effects of the surrounding seascape on coral reef fishes

Katie Sievers studied how mangroves, macroalgal beds, and seagrass meadows affect coral reef fishes in the Philippines. Her thesis revealed that many more fish are using non-reef habitats than previously identified. These results are especially important for fisheries management because protection of non-reef habitats is often overlooked

The evolution, macroecology and biogeography of coral reef fishes: a trophic perspective

Alexandre Siqueira investigated trophic evolution in coral reef fishes. He found that what fishes eat is important to determine how fast new species originate, besides being a major component of global patterns of species distributions. This evolutionary perspective focused on species roles in ecosystems offers an exciting future research avenue

Connectivity and exploitation of Acanthurus triostegus and Acanthurus leucosternon in the Indian Ocean : Application of genetics and single stock assessment to aid coral reef management

Extrinsic/abiotic and intrinsic/biotic factors can influence the connectivity and exploitation of reef fish. Coral reef fish from the genus Acanthurus have evolved different life history characteristics that can affect their connectivity and exploitation. The aim of this thesis is to explore the population genetic structure and growth parameters of Acanthurus triostegus and Acanthurus leucosternon in the Indian Ocean, to determine the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on the connectivity and exploitation of coral reef species. First, a 491bp fragment of cytochrome b and microsatellite loci was used to show that the long pelagic larval duration of acanthurids can confer widespread genetic connectivity to A. leucosternon in the Eastern Africa region. Although the global AMOVA (Analysis of Molecular Variance) involving all A. leucosternon Eastern African population is significant, the hierarchical AMOVA and STRUCTURE does not show any genetic breaks consistent with known Eastern African oceanographic and biogeographical barriers to dispersal. Second, a mitochondrial DNA fragment spanning the ATPase8 and ATPase6 gene regions is used to demonstrate that the genetic differentiation of A. triostegus is correlated with geographic distance throughout the Indo-Pacific. In addition, this study shows that populations of A. triostegus are significantly differentiated in the Indian Ocean (Western Indian Ocean and East Indian Ocean), but not in the Pacific Ocean (West, Central, and East Pacific). Third, using syntopic sampling of the spawning aggregating A. triostegus and monogamous pairing A. leucosternon this study determined the influence of mating behaviour on the connectivity of these two Acanthurus species. Contrary to expectations, DAPC (discriminant analysis of principal components), hierarchical AMOVA, and pairwise comparisons showed that the divergent mating behaviour does not lead to differences in the connectivity patterns of A. leucosternon and A. triostegus, but the two species experienced differences in their demographic history. A detailed analysis in BEAST (Bayesian Evolutionary analysis Sampling Trees) showed iv that A. leucosternon which is often restricted to coral reef habitats had a faster and more recent demographic expansion than the habitat generalist A. triostegus. Finally, the growth parameters and mortality of A. triostegus and A. leucosternon were estimated, to determine whether differences in mating behaviour can lead to differences in exploitation rate. Consistent with expectations, the length-based stock assessment showed that the A. triostegus, the species that often forms spawning aggregation has a higher exploitation rate than the monogamous pairing A. leucosternon, supporting previous studies indicating that spawning aggregation may increase the susceptibility of coral reef fish to fishing

Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of the Vava'u Archipelago, Kingdom of Tonga

Color Illustrations; mapsThis report presents the results and recommendations of a Biological Rapid Assessment Programme (BIORAP) carried out in the marine and terrestrial environments of the Vava’u Archipelago, Tonga, from 13 to 28 February 2014. Vava’u lies within the Polynesia−Micronesia Biodiversity Hotspot defined by Conservation International, which includes areas with significant biodiversity that are also highly threatene

The Impacts of Predation and Habitat Degradation on Coral Reef Sponge Assemblages in SE Sulawesi, Indonesia

Coral reefs across the globe are in decline due to multiple threats including overexploitation, pollution, coastal development, climate change and ocean acidification. Much research has focused on the effects of these threats on hard corals while their impacts on other important benthic invertebrate groups have been overlooked. Sponges are a diverse and abundant component of coral reef communities in the Indo-Pacific that play important functional roles on reefs including nutrient cycling, linking primary and secondary production, reef bioerosion and spatial competition. Consequently, changes in the abundance and distribution patterns of sponges can affect overall reef ecosystem function. Understanding the factors that control sponge distribution patterns is therefore essential for the successful prediction and mitigation of the effects of current threats to reef systems. Sponge distributions are known to be affected by a number of abiotic factors such as wave action, sedimentation and water flow, but the role of biological factors such as predation and competition is less clear. The primary aim of my thesis was to determine the effects of predation on the distribution and abundance of sponge assemblages in the Wakatobi Marine National Park (WMNP), SE Sulawesi, Indonesia. My first objective (chapter 2) was to identify the major spongivores in the Wakatobi using surveys and behavioural observations of key invertebrate (nudibranchs and starfish) and vertebrate taxa (fish). I then adopted a statistical modelling approach (chapter 3) to examine associations between sponges and a suite of abiotic and biological factors, including spongivore abundance, across nine sites in the WMNP. The results of this analysis showed that although sponge assemblage composition was weakly associated with spongivore abundance, sedimentation is more likely to have a greater impact on sponge abundance and distribution patterns. I found that degraded sites were characterized by low diversity sponge assemblages dominated by a single sediment tolerant species Lamellodysidea herbacea. In order to explore the relationship between sponges and spongivore abundance further, I used an experimental approach (chapter 4), establishing a caging experiment to examine the effect of excluding predators on reef slope sponge assemblages. The caging experiment did not reveal any effects of predator exclusion on sponge abundance or diversity. In the last data chapter (chapter 5), I focus on sub-lethal predation effects on sponges and examine the extent and impact of partial predation on the Indo-Pacific giant barrel sponge Xestospongia testudinaria. Video observations of fish predation and measurements of barrel sponge regeneration rates were used to model the impacts of predation on barrel sponges. In summary, a combination of observational, modelling and experimental approaches were used in order to determine the impact of fish predation on Indo-Pacific sponge assemblages. Spongivory does not appear to have a major influence on the abundance and distribution of reef sponges but is an important trophic link in reef ecosystems. Ecologically important sponge species, such as the giant barrel sponge X. testudinaria, are exposed to intensive partial predation and future changes in predation intensity could have consequences for the fitness of these species. Finally, my work suggests that changes on reefs such as increases in sedimentation could produce a shift from coral dominated to lower diversity sponge dominated communities

Habitat driven responses of reef fish: temporal change, niche partitioning and selection

Shallow water tropical and temperate marine habitats are changing dramatically in response to many stressor-driven effects. The change in turn threatens the associated fish communities relying on their maintenance for habitat provision. At present, a much better understanding of the interaction between changing habitats and the associated fish is necessary. To address the lack of understanding of the habitat – fish association, mechanisms which underpin the habitat driven responses of reef fish were examined, from entire communities down to species level, across tropical and temperate ecosystems. Using a highly biodiverse ecosystem as the model system, effects of changing habitat on the associated fish community were observed, consequently demonstrating how important, in terms of shelter and food resources, the overall habitat is in structuring the fish community. Furthermore, patterns of habitat use of certain fish species within and across tropical and temperate ecosystems were examined. Variation in the size of the habitat used and its overlap between species within systems, and uniform patterns in habitat use and comparable fish habitat size and overlap across systems, were discovered. By looking at fish habitat use within systems, invaluable knowledge was gained on ecological interactions between habitat and fish on a small scale. At the same time, detection of similar mechanisms of fish habitat use across ecosystems indicates to possible uniform response of fish communities to habitat change at a large-scale. Finally, by looking at fish habitat selection using olfaction, in a temperate model system, a range of subtle behavioural responses displayed during habitat selection were detected. These results highlighted the extent of complexity of the mechanisms used in fish habitat selection and the ubiquitous importance of the habitat and its properties for the associated fish. In addition to, and based on the ecological significance of the findings, a number of potential management and conservational applications of the research were given within the thesis

The trophic ecology of reef fishes: the cnidarian challenge

Víctor Huertas explored the trophic ecology of cnidarian-feeding labrids to understand how these fishes overcome the difficulties associated with a diet of corals or jellyfish. He described the evolution of two highly modified oral jaw structures that confers an extraordinary ability to secrete mucus which enables fishes to exploit this unusual diet. This work offers a new view of the importance of corals and coral feeding fishes

The state of coral reef ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2008

In the past decade, increased awareness regarding the declining condition of U.S. coral reefs has prompted various actions by governmental and non-governmental organizations. Presidential Executive Order 13089 created the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) in 1998 to coordinate federal and state/territorial activities (Clinton, 1998), and the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 provided Congressional funding for activities to conserve these important ecosystems, including mapping, monitoring and assessment projects carried out through the support of NOAA’s CRCP. Numerous collaborations forged among federal agencies and state, local, non-governmental, academic and private partners now support a variety of monitoring activities. This report shares the results of many of these monitoring activities, relying heavily on quantitative, spatially-explicit data that has been collected in the recent past and comparisons with historical data where possible. The success of this effort can be attributed to the dedication of over 270 report contributors who comprised the expert writing teams in the jurisdictions and contributed to the National Level Activities and National Summary chapters. The scope and content of this report are the result of their dedication to this considerable collaborative effort. Ultimately, the goal of this report is to answer the difficult but vital question: what is the condition of U.S. coral reef ecosystems? The report attempts to base a response on the best available science emerging from coral reef ecosystem monitoring programs in 15 jurisdictions across the country. However, few monitoring programs have been in place for longer than a decade, and many have been initiated only within the past two to five years. A few jurisdictions are just beginning to implement monitoring programs and face challenges stemming from a lack of basic habitat maps and other ecosystem data in addition to adequate training, capacity building, and technical support. There is also a general paucity of historical data describing the condition of ecosystem resources before major human impacts occurred, which limits any attempt to present the current conditions within an historical context and contributes to the phenomenon of shifting baselines (Jackson, 1997; Jackson et al., 2001; Pandolfi et al., 2005)