Hobbs, Jean-Paul A., and Srinivasan, Maya (2024) Structure of Reef Fish Families (Butterflyfishes and Angelfishes) at Isolated Oceanic Reefs in the Indian Ocean: Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Diversity, 16 (9). 569.

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Abstract

There has been substantial research on the factors that structure reef fish assemblages, but this has mostly focused on nearshore or continental reefs. This study examines patterns of abundance and species composition for two iconic groups of coral reef fishes, angelfishes (family Pomacanthidae) and butterflyfishes (family Chaetodontidae) at two isolated, oceanic reefs in the Indian Ocean: Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Six explanatory variables were investigated to determine whether large-scale physical factors are more important than fine-scale biotic factors in structuring reef fish communities on oceanic islands. For angelfishes, depth was the factor that most explained patterns in abundance (explaining 46.5% of the variation), species richness (44.8%) and composition (15.3%), with both abundance and species richness being greater at 20 m than at 5 m. Differences in species composition were greater between depths than between islands. For butterflyfishes, variation in abundance and species richness was best explained by the difference in aspect or exposure among sites, though abundance and composition also differed significantly between Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Large-scale variation in the structure of these reef fish assemblages could not be explained based on differences in habitat diversity, or coral and algal cover. This study indicates that large-scale physical factors (island location, exposure, depth) are more important than fine-scale biotic factors in structuring reef fish assemblages on oceanic islands.

Item ID:	83941
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1424-2818
Keywords:	Chaetodontidae; Pomacanthidae; depth gradients; isolation; microhabitat; regression trees; wave exposure
Copyright Information:	Copyright: © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC DE200101286
Date Deposited:	29 Oct 2024 23:59
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310301 Behavioural ecology @ 100%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180599 Marine systems and management not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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