title: Larval dispersal drives trophic structure across Pacific coral reefs.
abstract: Top predators are a critical part of healthy ecosystems. Yet, these species are often absent from spatially isolated habitats leading to the pervasive view that fragmented ecological communities collapse from the top down. Here we study reef fish from coral reef communities across the Pacific Ocean. Our analysis shows that species richness of reef fish top predators is relatively stable across habitats that vary widely in spatial isolation and total species richness. In contrast, species richness of prey reef fish declines rapidly with increasing isolation. By consequence, species-poor communities from isolated islands have three times as many predator species per prey species as near-shore communities. We develop and test a colonization-extinction model to reveal how larval dispersal patterns shape this ocean-scale gradient in trophic structure.
authors.affiliation: 1] National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 735 State Street, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA [2] Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, #4200-6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4 [3] Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-8525, USA.
authors.forename: Adrian C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Stier
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-8525, USA [2] Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-2016, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hein
authors.affiliation: 1] CRIOBE, USR 3278 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD, LABEX Corail, University of Perpignan, Perpignan 66860, France [2] Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement, UR 227 Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls BP 44-66651, France [3] CESAB-FRB, Immeuble Henri Poincaré, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Aix-en-Provence 13857, France.
authors.forename: Valeriano
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parravicini
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement, UR 227 Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls BP 44-66651, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kulbicki
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D057894:Coral Reefs; D017753:Ecosystem; D005399:Fishes; D020387:Food Chain; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology*; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D011235:Predatory Behavior