Natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish

Abstract By improving resource quality, cross-ecosystem nutrient subsidies may boost demographic rates of consumers in recipient ecosystems, which in turn can affect population and community dynamics. However, empirical studies on how nutrient subsidies simultaneously affect multiple demographic rat...

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Autores principales:	Cassandra E. Benkwitt, Brett M. Taylor, Mark G. Meekan, Nicholas A. J. Graham
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e5152a1d814f46bc9a3abe7da19264ac
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e5152a1d814f46bc9a3abe7da19264ac2021-12-02T17:41:32ZNatural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish10.1038/s41598-021-91884-y2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/e5152a1d814f46bc9a3abe7da19264ac2021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91884-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract By improving resource quality, cross-ecosystem nutrient subsidies may boost demographic rates of consumers in recipient ecosystems, which in turn can affect population and community dynamics. However, empirical studies on how nutrient subsidies simultaneously affect multiple demographic rates are lacking, in part because humans have disrupted the majority of these natural flows. Here, we compare the demographics of a sex-changing parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus) between reefs where cross-ecosystem nutrients provided by seabirds are available versus nearby reefs where invasive, predatory rats have removed seabird populations. For this functionally important species, we found evidence for a trade-off between investing in growth and fecundity, with parrotfish around rat-free islands with many seabirds exhibiting 35% faster growth, but 21% lower size-based fecundity, than those around rat-infested islands with few seabirds. Although there were no concurrent differences in population-level density or biomass, overall mean body size was 16% larger around rat-free islands. Because the functional significance of parrotfish as grazers and bioeroders increases non-linearly with size, the increased growth rates and body sizes around rat-free islands likely contributes to higher ecosystem function on coral reefs that receive natural nutrient subsidies. More broadly, these results demonstrate additional benefits, and potential trade-offs, of restoring natural nutrient pathways for recipient ecosystems.Cassandra E. BenkwittBrett M. TaylorMark G. MeekanNicholas A. J. GrahamNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Cassandra E. Benkwitt Brett M. Taylor Mark G. Meekan Nicholas A. J. Graham Natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish
description	Abstract By improving resource quality, cross-ecosystem nutrient subsidies may boost demographic rates of consumers in recipient ecosystems, which in turn can affect population and community dynamics. However, empirical studies on how nutrient subsidies simultaneously affect multiple demographic rates are lacking, in part because humans have disrupted the majority of these natural flows. Here, we compare the demographics of a sex-changing parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus) between reefs where cross-ecosystem nutrients provided by seabirds are available versus nearby reefs where invasive, predatory rats have removed seabird populations. For this functionally important species, we found evidence for a trade-off between investing in growth and fecundity, with parrotfish around rat-free islands with many seabirds exhibiting 35% faster growth, but 21% lower size-based fecundity, than those around rat-infested islands with few seabirds. Although there were no concurrent differences in population-level density or biomass, overall mean body size was 16% larger around rat-free islands. Because the functional significance of parrotfish as grazers and bioeroders increases non-linearly with size, the increased growth rates and body sizes around rat-free islands likely contributes to higher ecosystem function on coral reefs that receive natural nutrient subsidies. More broadly, these results demonstrate additional benefits, and potential trade-offs, of restoring natural nutrient pathways for recipient ecosystems.
format	article
author	Cassandra E. Benkwitt Brett M. Taylor Mark G. Meekan Nicholas A. J. Graham
author_facet	Cassandra E. Benkwitt Brett M. Taylor Mark G. Meekan Nicholas A. J. Graham
author_sort	Cassandra E. Benkwitt
title	Natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish
title_short	Natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish
title_full	Natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish
title_fullStr	Natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish
title_full_unstemmed	Natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish
title_sort	natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e5152a1d814f46bc9a3abe7da19264ac
work_keys_str_mv	AT cassandraebenkwitt naturalnutrientsubsidiesalterdemographicratesinafunctionallyimportantcoralreeffish AT brettmtaylor naturalnutrientsubsidiesalterdemographicratesinafunctionallyimportantcoralreeffish AT markgmeekan naturalnutrientsubsidiesalterdemographicratesinafunctionallyimportantcoralreeffish AT nicholasajgraham naturalnutrientsubsidiesalterdemographicratesinafunctionallyimportantcoralreeffish
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Natural nutrient subsidies alter demographic rates in a functionally important coral-reef fish

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