Quimpo, Timothy Joseph R., Galbraith, Gemma F., Cresswell, Benjamin J., Cabaitan, Patrick C., Barnett, Adam, and Hoey, Andrew S. (2025) Differential changes in the taxonomic and functional composition of herbivorous fishes from shallow to mesophotic coral ecosystems at the Coral Sea Marine Park, Australia. Coral Reefs, 44. pp. 1991-2009.

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Abstract

Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs: 30–150 m) are characterized by environmental conditions and biological assemblages that are distinct from those of shallow reefs (< 30 m). Several studies have described changes in species richness, abundance and composition of reef fish assemblages, from shallow reefs to MCEs; however, few have considered how different functional groups change over the same gradient. Here, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) surveys were used to examine how depth (2–98 m) and slope orientation influence the abundance, biomass, richness and composition of all herbivorous fishes, and the abundance and biomass of five functional groups of herbivorous fishes (scrapers, excavators, algal croppers, browsers and detritivores) on oceanic reefs of the Coral Sea Marine Park, Australia. While the abundance, biomass and species richness of herbivorous fishes generally declined with depth, the rate of decline varied among groups. The rate of decline in abundance of excavating (7.0% m−1) and detritivorous (7.4% m−1) fishes was nearly double that of croppers (4.2% m−1) and scrapers (3.9% m−1), while rates of decline in biomass of detritivores (3.5% m−1) was ~ 50% higher than croppers (2.4% m−1). Further, gentle to moderate slope orientations (6–45°) generally supported higher richness, abundance and biomass of herbivorous fishes than both flatter (< 5°) and steeper (> 81°) orientations. These results show that the response of herbivorous fishes to depth is not homogenous and varies among functional groups, and may be related to changes in resource availability, slope orientation and predation from shallow reefs to MCEs.

Item ID:	89800
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-0975
Keywords:	Coral Sea, Herbivory, Mesophotic Reefs, ROVS
Copyright Information:	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/.
Date Deposited:	04 Dec 2025 00:02
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 40% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310302 Community ecology (excl. invasive species ecology) @ 40% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410401 Conservation and biodiversity @ 20%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180501 Assessment and management of benthic marine ecosystems @ 20% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180504 Marine biodiversity @ 80%
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