Patterns of biogeographic and regional life-history trait variation in four large-bodied tropical wrasses

Lowe, J.R., Russ, G.R., Bucol, A.A., Abesamis, R.A., Stockwell, B.L., and Choat, J.H. (2022) Patterns of biogeographic and regional life-history trait variation in four large-bodied tropical wrasses. Marine Biology, 169 (9). 113.

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Abstract

Ectotherms display substantial demographic variation across latitudinal gradients of temperature. Higher temperatures are often associated with smaller size, rapid initial growth rates, and early maturation, generally described as the Temperature-Size Rule (TSR). The longevity of most ectotherms also declines at warmer, lower latitudes. However, these patterns may be modified by increases in food resources that can flow on to continuous growth and large adult size. The present study estimates age-based demographic parameters of large-bodied tropical wrasses (Hemigymnus melapterus, H. fasciatus, Cheilinus fasciatus, and Oxycheilinus digramma) collected from Philippine fish markets (9-11 degrees N) and sampled from Palm (18.53-18.70 degrees S) and Whitsunday (20.05-20.21 degrees S) reefs on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia (GBR). Differences in longevity, initial growth rates, and the age at sexual maturation at a biogeographic scale, between the Philippines and GBR, conformed to predictions of the TSR. However, Philippine specimens exhibited greater relative body condition and sustained periods of growth beyond sexual maturity resulting in larger adult size than GBR samples. Size-structure data from Philippine marine reserves and fished sites indicated that these differences were not confounded by fishery-dependent sampling. Moreover, latitudinal length-weight relationships could not be explained by lower densities of the focal wrasses in the Philippines or by relative gonad size. Less pronounced patterns of demographic variation that differed across species were evident at a regional scale, among Palm and Whitsunday reefs. Patterns of demographic variation between the Philippines and GBR strongly suggest that differences in food resource levels will be important in explaining the observed geographic variation.

Item ID: 75940
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1432-1793
Keywords: Wrasse, Labridae, Ectotherm, Life-history traits, Sexual development, Food resources
Copyright Information: his article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Funders: ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Date Deposited: 07 Sep 2022 08:12
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 100%
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