title: Influence of nursery microhabitats on the future abundance of a coral reef fish.
abstract: Species habitat associations are often complex, making it difficult to assess their influence on populations. Among coral reef fishes, habitat requirements vary among species and with ontogeny, but the relative importance of nursery and adult-preferred habitats on future abundances remain unclear. Moreover, adult populations may be influenced by recruitment of juveniles and assessments of habitat importance should consider relative effects of juvenile abundance. We conducted surveys across 16 sites and 200 km of reef to identify the microhabitat preferences of juveniles, sub-adults and adults of the damselfish Pomacentrus moluccensis Microhabitat preferences at different life-history stages were then combined with 6 years of juvenile abundance and microhabitat availability data to show that the availability of preferred juvenile microhabitat (corymbose corals) at the time of settlement was a strong predictor of future sub-adult and adult abundance. However, the influence of nursery microhabitats on future population size differed spatially and at some locations abundance of juveniles and adult microhabitat (branching corals) were better predictors of local populations. Our results demonstrate that while juvenile microhabitats are important nurseries, the abundance of coral-dependent fishes is not solely dependent on these microhabitats, especially when microhabitats are readily available or following large influxes of juveniles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parks and Wildlife, Marine Science Program, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia shaun.wilson@dpaw.wa.gov.au.
authors.forename: Shaun K
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4590-0948
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia Australian Institute of Marine Science, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Martial
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Depczynski
authors.affiliation: Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Fulton
authors.affiliation: Department of Parks and Wildlife, Marine Science Program, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Ben T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Radford
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tinkler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D057894:Coral Reefs; D005399:Fishes
keywords: habitat conservation; ontogeny; population size; recruitment; specialization