Small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities.
Ecosystem processes are challenging to quantify at a community level, particularly within complex ecosystems (e.g., rainforests, coral reefs). Predation is one of the most important types of species interactions, determining several ecosystem processes. However, while it is widely recognised, it is...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-11-01
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| Series: | PLoS Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001898 |
| _version_ | 1797978118845104128 |
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| author | Michalis Mihalitsis Renato A Morais David R Bellwood |
| author_facet | Michalis Mihalitsis Renato A Morais David R Bellwood |
| author_sort | Michalis Mihalitsis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ecosystem processes are challenging to quantify at a community level, particularly within complex ecosystems (e.g., rainforests, coral reefs). Predation is one of the most important types of species interactions, determining several ecosystem processes. However, while it is widely recognised, it is rarely quantified, especially in aquatic systems. To address these issues, we model predation on fish by fish, in a hyperdiverse coral reef community. We show that body sizes previously examined in fish-fish predation studies (based on a metanalysis), only represent about 5% of likely predation events. The average fish predator on coral reefs is just 3.65 cm; the average fish prey just 1.5 cm. These results call for a shift in the way we view fish predation and its ability to shape the species or functional composition of coral reef fish communities. Considered from a functional group approach, we found general agreement in the distribution of simulated and observed predation events, among both predator and prey functional groups. Predation on coral reefs is a process driven by small fish, most of which are neither seen nor quantified. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:19:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f6059f2be99f47049679998318a7e4f4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1544-9173 1545-7885 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:19:03Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-f6059f2be99f47049679998318a7e4f42022-12-24T05:30:42ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Biology1544-91731545-78852022-11-012011e300189810.1371/journal.pbio.3001898Small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities.Michalis MihalitsisRenato A MoraisDavid R BellwoodEcosystem processes are challenging to quantify at a community level, particularly within complex ecosystems (e.g., rainforests, coral reefs). Predation is one of the most important types of species interactions, determining several ecosystem processes. However, while it is widely recognised, it is rarely quantified, especially in aquatic systems. To address these issues, we model predation on fish by fish, in a hyperdiverse coral reef community. We show that body sizes previously examined in fish-fish predation studies (based on a metanalysis), only represent about 5% of likely predation events. The average fish predator on coral reefs is just 3.65 cm; the average fish prey just 1.5 cm. These results call for a shift in the way we view fish predation and its ability to shape the species or functional composition of coral reef fish communities. Considered from a functional group approach, we found general agreement in the distribution of simulated and observed predation events, among both predator and prey functional groups. Predation on coral reefs is a process driven by small fish, most of which are neither seen nor quantified.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001898 |
| spellingShingle | Michalis Mihalitsis Renato A Morais David R Bellwood Small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities. PLoS Biology |
| title | Small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities. |
| title_full | Small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities. |
| title_fullStr | Small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities. |
| title_short | Small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities. |
| title_sort | small predators dominate fish predation in coral reef communities |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001898 |
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