Collins, William, Bellwood, David, Morais Araujo, Renato, Waltham, Nathan, and Siqueira Correa, Alexandre (2024) Diel movement patterns in nominally nocturnal coral reef fishes (Haemulidae and Lutjanidae): Intra vs. Interspecific variation. Coral Reefs. (In Press)

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Abstract

Movement of animals, habitat connectivity, and nutrient transport are key elements in the ecological functioning of coral reef ecosystems. However, most studies have focused on the diurnal component of these aspects; nocturnal patterns are less known. Our study aims to address this knowledge gap by assessing diel movement patterns in ecologically and commercially important nocturnal coral reef fishes. We evaluate 122-days of acoustic telemetry data from 4 nocturnal species in 2 coral reef fish families (Haemulidae and Lutjanidae) on the Great Barrier Reef. For all species, we found a clear division between daytime resting areas on the reef and a move towards off-reef areas at night. This was highlighted in the low number of detections at night and the high average transitions between receivers at twilight. Over our study period, average nocturnal space use area (minimum convex polygon) of Plectorhincus gibbosus was 328,089 m2, Plectorhincus lineatus 28,828 m2, and Lutjanus carponotatus 20,369 m2. However, results from a Principal Component Analysis revealed that space use, and movement, varied substantially within species; for 3 of the 4 species the main axis of variation correlated with individual-level behaviour. These large differences in individual space use patterns highlight the need for caution when using species averages when considering ecosystem functions. Overall, our preliminary observations provide a glimpse into the large spatial extent, potential habitat connectivity, and intra and interspecific variation in activity patterns among large nocturnal Indo-Pacific reef fishes. This highlights their potential importance in maintaining ecosystem links between coral reefs and adjacent habitats.

Item ID:	84118
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-0975
Keywords:	Diel patterns, Intraspecific variation, Behaviour, Space use, Function, Habitat
Copyright Information:	Open Access. This 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:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC DE140100020, ARC FL190100062
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2024 02:05
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410404 Environmental management @ 50%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180203 Coastal or estuarine biodiversity @ 50% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180299 Coastal and estuarine systems and management not elsewhere classified @ 50%
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