Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs

Abstract The availability of habitat structure across spatial scales can determine ecological organization and resilience. However, anthropogenic disturbances are altering the abundance and composition of habitat-forming organisms. How such shifts in the composition of these organisms alter the phys...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Laura E. Richardson, Nicholas A. J. Graham, Andrew S. Hoey
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/0b84932bfaee48d1a41fb073aa38a340
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:0b84932bfaee48d1a41fb073aa38a340
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:0b84932bfaee48d1a41fb073aa38a3402021-12-02T11:52:42ZCross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs10.1038/s41598-017-08109-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/0b84932bfaee48d1a41fb073aa38a3402017-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08109-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The availability of habitat structure across spatial scales can determine ecological organization and resilience. However, anthropogenic disturbances are altering the abundance and composition of habitat-forming organisms. How such shifts in the composition of these organisms alter the physical structure of habitats across ecologically important scales remains unclear. At a time of unprecedented coral loss and homogenization of coral assemblages globally, we investigate the inherent structural complexity of taxonomically distinct reefs, across five ecologically relevant scales of measurement (4–64 cm). We show that structural complexity was influenced by coral species composition, and was not a simple function of coral cover on the studied reefs. However, inter-habitat variation in structural complexity changed with scale. Importantly, the scales at which habitat structure was available also varied among habitats. Complexity at the smallest, most vulnerable scale (4 cm) varied the most among habitats, which could have inferences for as much as half of all reef fishes which are small-bodied and refuge dependent for much of their lives. As disturbances continue and species shifts persist, the future of these ecosystems may rely on a greater concern for the composition of habitat-building species and prioritization of particular configurations for protection of maximal cross-scale habitat structural complexity.Laura E. RichardsonNicholas A. J. GrahamAndrew S. HoeyNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Laura E. Richardson Nicholas A. J. Graham Andrew S. Hoey Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs
description	Abstract The availability of habitat structure across spatial scales can determine ecological organization and resilience. However, anthropogenic disturbances are altering the abundance and composition of habitat-forming organisms. How such shifts in the composition of these organisms alter the physical structure of habitats across ecologically important scales remains unclear. At a time of unprecedented coral loss and homogenization of coral assemblages globally, we investigate the inherent structural complexity of taxonomically distinct reefs, across five ecologically relevant scales of measurement (4–64 cm). We show that structural complexity was influenced by coral species composition, and was not a simple function of coral cover on the studied reefs. However, inter-habitat variation in structural complexity changed with scale. Importantly, the scales at which habitat structure was available also varied among habitats. Complexity at the smallest, most vulnerable scale (4 cm) varied the most among habitats, which could have inferences for as much as half of all reef fishes which are small-bodied and refuge dependent for much of their lives. As disturbances continue and species shifts persist, the future of these ecosystems may rely on a greater concern for the composition of habitat-building species and prioritization of particular configurations for protection of maximal cross-scale habitat structural complexity.
format	article
author	Laura E. Richardson Nicholas A. J. Graham Andrew S. Hoey
author_facet	Laura E. Richardson Nicholas A. J. Graham Andrew S. Hoey
author_sort	Laura E. Richardson
title	Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs
title_short	Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs
title_full	Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs
title_fullStr	Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs
title_full_unstemmed	Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs
title_sort	cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/0b84932bfaee48d1a41fb073aa38a340
work_keys_str_mv	AT lauraerichardson crossscalehabitatstructuredrivenbycoralspeciescompositionontropicalreefs AT nicholasajgraham crossscalehabitatstructuredrivenbycoralspeciescompositionontropicalreefs AT andrewshoey crossscalehabitatstructuredrivenbycoralspeciescompositionontropicalreefs
_version_	1718394965989523456

Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs

Ejemplares similares