2024-03-29T13:12:05Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1626212018-07-09T07:34:32Zcom_10261_88com_10261_8col_10261_341
2018-03-21T10:13:05Z
urn:hdl:10261/162621
Foraging plasticity in obligate corallivorous Melon butterflyfish across three recently bleached reefs
Zambre, Amod
Arthur, Rohan
Bleaching
Foraging plasticity
Coral reefs
Climate change
Butterflyfish
Este artículo contiene 9 páginas, 6 figuras, 1 tabla.
Because obligate corallivorous butterflyfish feed exclusively on coral polyps, they
are particularly sensitive to changes in coral cover and its spatial distribution. To understand
how such differences in coral cover influence obligate corallivores, we examined
the densities and foraging behavior of Melon butterflyfish Chaetodon
trifasciatus across three reefs in the Lakshadweep archipelago. These reefs suffered
differential bleaching mortality after the 2010 El Niño Southern Oscillation, resulting
in wide variation in coral cover and community composition. Despite these differences,
C. trifasciatus were able to persist at similar densities across reefs. However,
our analysis of high-resolution
video recordings of multiple focal fish revealed that
time budgets, bite rates, and diet selectivity differed significantly. Fish in resource-poor
reefs spent more time moving between coral patches and less time foraging
than ones in relatively resource-rich
reefs. We also found that fish in resource-poor
reefs had higher bite rates and were less selective in their foraging. Our results provide
novel insights into how obligate corallivores cope with even large differences in
resource availability. At a time when we are rapidly losing corals to repeated climate-induced
bleaching events, this flexibility may represent a critical mechanism that
enables persistence of obligate corallivores in resource-poor
reefs, even if it does not
guarantee longer-term
survival.
2018-03-21T10:13:05Z
2018-03-21T10:13:05Z
2018
artículo
Ethology : doi:10.1111/eth.12733 (2018)
0179-1613
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/162621
1439-0310
eng
https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eth.12733
Sí
closedAccess
John Wiley & Sons