Benthic cover.

<p>Percentage cover (mean ± SE) of four categories of benthos (scleractinian corals, macroalgae, eplithic algal matrix and others) in MPAs and adjacent non-MPAs, at three village sites (Votua, Vatu-o-lalai, Namada) along Fiji’s Coral Coast. * and ** indicate, respectively, paired bars that differ significantly (p < 0.05) and highly significantly (p < 0.001).</p

Study sites.

<p>Marine protected areas (red) and adjacent areas, where fisheries are allowed (green), at three village sites (Votua, Vatu-o-lalai, Namada) along Fiji’s Coral Coast.</p

Individual networks of resource use from five animal populations

The dataset includes five interaction networks from three animal species. The data comprises qualitative information on individual patterns of resource use from each animal species. Individuals are depicted in rows and resources in columns. Pinaroloxias inornata (Passeriformes, Thraupidae) is a finch from the Coco Island, Costa Rica. This data was originally published by Werner and Sherry (1987). The Pinaroloxias network comprised 21 sampled individuals that used 7 different feeding strategies to acquire resources. Feeding strategies are described in the spreadsheet. The second and third sheets comprise information on feeding interaction from the marine snail Nucella emarginata (Neogastropoda, Muricidae) from two different localities in central California. These two data sets were originally published by West (1986). In site A, 20 individuals were sampled and consumed 7 resources. In site B, 31 individuals were sampled and consumed 3 resources. The fourth and fifth sheets describe the feeding interactions from two populations of the marine snail Vasula melones from Panama. These dataset was originally published by West (1988). In site A, 42 individuals were sampled and consumed 8 resources, whereas in site B, 21 individuals were sampled and consumed 14 resources. Resources are described within each spreadsheet. For further information regarding data collection from any of the study systems we refer readers to the original articles. References: Werner, T. K. and Sherry, T. W. 1987. Behavioral feeding specialization in Pinaroloxias inornata, the “Darwin’s finch” of Cocos Island, Costa Rica. – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 84: 5506–5510; West, L. 1986. Interindividual Variation in Prey Selection by the Snail Nucella (= Thais) Emarginata. - Ecology 67: 798; West, L. 1988. Prey Selection by the Tropical Snail Thais Melones: A Study of Interindividual Variation. - Ecology 69: 1839

Small Marine Protected Areas in Fiji Provide Refuge for Reef Fish Assemblages, Feeding Groups, and Corals

<div><p>The establishment of no-take marine protected areas (MPAs) on coral reefs is a common management strategy for conserving the diversity, abundance, and biomass of reef organisms. Generally, well-managed and enforced MPAs can increase or maintain the diversity and function of the enclosed coral reef, with some of the benefits extending to adjacent non-protected reefs. A fundamental question in coral reef conservation is whether these benefits arise within small MPAs (<1 km²), because larval input of reef organisms is largely decoupled from local adult reproduction. We examined the structure of fish assemblages, composition of fish feeding groups, benthic cover, and key ecosystem processes (grazing, macroalgal browsing, and coral replenishment) in three small (0.5–0.8 km²) no-take MPAs and adjacent areas where fisheries are allowed (non-MPAs) on coral reefs in Fiji. The MPAs exhibited greater species richness, density, and biomass of fishes than non-MPAs. Furthermore, MPAs contained a greater abundance and biomass of grazing herbivores and piscivores as well as a greater abundance of cleaners than fished areas. We also found differences in fish associations when foraging, with feeding groups being generally more diverse and having greater biomass within MPAs than adjacent non-MPAs. Grazing by parrotfishes was 3–6 times greater, and macroalgal browsing was 3–5 times greater in MPAs than in non-MPAs. On average, MPAs had 260–280% as much coral cover and only 5–25% as much macroalgal cover as their paired non-MPA sites. Finally, two of the three MPAs had three-fold more coral recruits than adjacent non-MPAs. The results of this study indicate that small MPAs benefit not only populations of reef fishes, but also enhance ecosystem processes that are critical to reef resilience within the MPAs.</p></div

Macroalgal browsing.

<p>Rates of macroalgal removal by herbivores (% of algae consumed in 5 h, mean ± SE). Study sites and symbols as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0170638#pone.0170638.g002" target="_blank">Fig 2</a>.</p

Grazing by parrotfishes.

<p>Rates of substratum grazing by parrotfishes (% grazed area d^-1, mean ± SE) in MPAs and adjacent non-MPAs at three village sites (Votua, Vatu-o-lalai, and Namada) along the Coral Coast of Fiji. * and ** indicate paired bars with significant (p < 0.05) or highly significant (p < 0.001) differences, respectively. Note the different scales of the y-axes.</p

Model results for the observed richness of herbivores and non-herbivores.

<p>Parameter estimates (posterior mean), with 95% credible interval (CI) and effective sample size (ESS), for each level and interactions between levels of fixed factors (and variance associated with random factors). Effect sizes of the interaction site:status are relative to benchmark levels (non-MPAs to MPAs of each site). Text in bold highlight the effects deemed significant according to the 95% CI.</p

Non-herbivorous fishes.

<p>Density and biomass (120 m^-2) of five categories of Non-herbivores. Study sites and symbols as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0170638#pone.0170638.g002" target="_blank">Fig 2</a>.</p

Deviance information criterion (DIC) for models including (Full model) or not (Reduced) protections status as a predictor variable.

<p>Smaller DIC signal preferred models (in bold).</p

Coral recruits.

<p>Density (mean ± SE) of coral recruits m^-2 of plot area (see text for details). Study sites and symbols as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0170638#pone.0170638.g002" target="_blank">Fig 2</a>.</p