Positive effects of damselfish override negative effects of urchins to prevent an algal habitat switch

Journal of Ecology

Volumn 97, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 337-347

  Irving, Andrew D ^a,b   Witman, Jon D ^a  

^a BROWN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b SOUTH AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE   (Australia)

Author keywords

Algae; Alternate states; Coralline barrens; Filamentous turf; Habitat loss; Herbivory; Indirect effect; Pomacentridae; Species interaction

Indexed keywords

ALGA; COASTAL ZONE; COEXISTENCE; ECHINODERM; HABITAT AVAILABILITY; HABITAT LOSS; HERBIVORY; INTERSPECIFIC INTERACTION; PERCIFORM; SPECIES-AREA RELATIONSHIP; TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT;

ALGAE; ECHINOIDEA; POMACENTRIDAE;

EID: 60049094109     PISSN: 00220477     EISSN: 13652745     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2008.01467.x     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Abrams, P.A., Menge, B.A., Mittlebach, G.G., Spiller, D. Yodzis, P. (1996) The role of indirect effects in food webs. Food Webs: Dynamics and Structure (eds G. Polis K. Winemiller), pp. 371 395. Chapman and Hall, New York.
2. Airoldi, L. (2003) The effects of sedimentation on rocky coast assemblages. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, 41, 161 236.
3. Andrew, N.L. (1993) Spatial heterogeneity, sea urchin grazing, and habitat structure on reefs in temperate Australia. Ecology, 74, 292 302.
4. Bellwood, D.R., Hughes, T.P., Folke, C. Nyström, M. (2004) Confronting the coral reef crisis. Nature, 429, 827 833.
5. Benedetti-Cecchi, L., Pannacciulli, F., Bulleri, F., Moschella, P.S., Airoldi, L., Relini, G. Cinelli, F. (2001) Predicting the consequences of anthropogenic disturbance: large-scale effects of loss of canopy algae on rocky shores. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 214, 137 150.
6. Brandt, M. (2003) Influencia del Erizo Lapicero, Eucidaris Thouarsii, en la Estructura de la Comunidad Submarina de la Cara norte del Islote Camano, Galápagos. Master thesis, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.
7. Bråthen, K.A., Ims, R.A., Yoccoz, N.G., Fauchald, P., Tveraa, T. Hausner, V.H. (2007) Induced shift in ecosystem productivity? Extensive scale effects of abundant large herbivores. Ecosystems, 10, 773 789.
8. Brawley, S.H. Adey, W.H. (1977) Territorial behavior of threespot damselfish (Eupomacentrus planifrons) increases reef algal biomass and productivity. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2, 45 51.
9. Bronstein, J.L., Alarcón, R. Geber, M. (2006) The evolution of plant-insect mutualisms. New Phytologist, 172, 412 428.
10. Bruno, J.F. Bertness, M.D. (2001) Habitat modification and facilitation in benthic marine communities. Marine Community Ecology (eds M.D. Bertness, S.D. Gaines M.E. Hay), pp. 201 218. Sinauer Associates Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.
11. Callaway, R.M. (1995) Positive interactions among plants. The Botanical Review, 61, 306 349.
12. Carpenter, R.C. (1985) Relationships between primary production and irradiance in coral reef algal communities. Limnology and Oceanography, 30, 784 793.
13. Carpenter, R.C. (1986) Partitioning herbivory and its effects on coral reef algal communities. Ecological Monographs, 56, 345 364.
14. Ceccarelli, D.M., Jones, G.P. McCook, L.J. (2001) Territorial damselfishes as determinants of the structure of benthic communities on coral reefs. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, 39, 355 389.
15. Chapman, A.R.O. Johnson, C.R. (1990) Disturbance and organization of macroalgal assemblages in the Northwest Atlantic. Hydrobiologia, 192, 77 121.
16. Cobb, J. Lawrence, J.M. (2005) Diets and coexistence of the sea urchins Lytechinus variegatus and Arbacia punctulata (Echinodermata) along the central Florida gulf coast. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 295, 171 182.
17. Connell, J.H. Sousa, W.P. (1983) On the evidence needed to judge ecological stability or persistence. The American Naturalist, 121, 789 824.
18. Connell, S.D. (2007) Water quality and the loss of coral reefs and kelp forests: alternative states and the influence of fishing. Marine Ecology (eds S.D. Connell B.M. Gillanders), pp. 556 568. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
19. Crawley, M.J. (1983) Herbivory: the Dynamics of Animal-Plant Interactions. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.
20. Dayton, P.K. (1972) Toward an understanding of community resilience and the potential effects of enrichment to the benthos at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Proceedings of the Colloquium on Conservation Problems in Antarctica (ed. B.C. Parker), pp. 81 95. Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas.
21. Estes, J.A. Duggins, D.O. (1995) Sea otters and kelp forests in Alaska: generality and variation in a community ecological paradigm. Ecological Monographs, 65, 75 100.
22. Foster, M.S. (1990) Organization of macroalgal assemblages in the Northeast Pacific: the assumption of homogeneity and the illusion of generality. Hydrobiologia, 192, 21 33.
23. Freeman, A. (2006) Size-dependent trait-mediated indirect interactions among sea urchin herbivores. Behavioural Ecology, 17, 182 187.
24. Glynn, P.W. (2004) High complexity food webs in low-diversity Eastern Pacific reef-coral communities. Ecosystems, 7, 358 367.
25. Gorgula, S.K. Connell, S.D. (2004) Expansive covers of turf-forming algae on human-dominated coast: the relative effects of increasing nutrient and sediment loads. Marine Biology, 145, 613 619.
26. Graham, M.H. (2004) Effects of local deforestation on the diversity and structure of southern California giant kelp forest food webs. Ecosystems, 7, 341 357.
27. Grime, J.P. (1979) Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
28. Hata, H. Kato, M. (2003) Demise of monocultural algal farms by exclusion of territorial damselfish. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 263, 159 167.
29. Hinds, P.A. Ballantine, D.L. (1987) Effects of the Caribbean threespot damselfish, Stegastes planifrons (Cuvier), on algal lawn composition. Aquatic Botany, 27, 299 308.
30. Hourigan, T.F. (1986) An experimental removal of a territorial pomacentrid: effects on the occurrence and behavior of competitors. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 15, 161 169.
31. Hughes, T.P. (1994) Catastrophes, phase shifts, and large-scale degradation of a Caribbean coral reef. Science, 265, 1547 1551.
32. Hughes, T.P., Baird, A.H., Bellwood, D.R., Card, M., Connolly, S.R., Folke, C. et al 2003) Climate change, human impacts, and the resilience of coral reefs. Science, 301, 929 933.
33. Hutchings, M.J., John, E.A. Stewart, A.J.A. (eds) (2000) The Ecological Consequences of Environmental Heterogeneity. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.
34. Irving, A.D. Connell, S.D. (2006) Predicting understorey structure from the presence and composition of canopies: an assembly rule for marine algae. Oecologia, 148, 491 502.
35. Jackson, J.B.C. (2001) What was natural in the oceans? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 98, 5411 5418.
36. Jones, C.G., Lawton, J.H. Shachak, M. (1994) Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos, 69, 373 386.
37. Kendrick, G.A. (1991) Recruitment of coralline crusts and filamentous turf algae in the Galapagos archipelago: effect of simulated scour, erosion and accretion. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 147, 47 63.
38. Lassuy, D.R. (1980) Effects of 'farming' behavior by Eupomacentrus lividus and Hemiglyphidodon plagiometopon on algal community structure. Bulletin of Marine Science, 30, 304 312.
39. Okey, T.A., Banks, S., Born, A.F., Bustamante, R.H., Calvopiña, M., Edgar, G.J. et al 2004) A trophic model of a Galapagos subtidal rocky reef for evaluating fisheries and conservation strategies. Ecological Modelling, 172, 383 401.
40. Peterson, C.H. (1984) Does a rigorous criterion for environmental identity preclude the existence of multiple stable points? The American Naturalist, 124, 127 133.
41. Peterson, C.J. Pickett, S.T.A. (1991) Treefall and resprouting following catastrophic windthrow in an old-growth hemlock-hardwoods forest. Forest Ecology and Management, 42, 205 217.
42. Petraitis, P.S. Dudgeon, S.R. (2004) Detection of alternative stable states in marine communities. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 300, 343 371.
43. Pickett, S.T.A. White, P.S. (eds) (1985) The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics. Academic Press, Orlando.
44. Scott, F.J. Russ, G.R. (1987) Effects of grazing on species composition of the epilithic algal community on coral reefs of the central Great Barrier Reef. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 39, 293 304.
45. Siddon, C.E. Witman, J.D. (2003) Influence of chronic, low-level hydrodynamic forces on subtidal community structure. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 261, 99 110.
46. Sousa, W.P. (2001) Natural disturbance and the dynamics of marine benthic communities. Marine Community Ecology (eds M.D. Bertness, S.D. Gaines M.E. Hay), pp. 85 130. Sinauer Associates Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.
47. Stachowicz, J.J. (2001) Mutualism, facilitation, and the structure of ecological communities. Bioscience, 51, 235 246.
48. Steneck, R.S., Graham, M.H., Bourque, B.J., Corbett, D., Erlandson, J.M., Estes, J.A. Tegner, M.J. (2002) Kelp forest ecosystems: biodiversity, stability, resilience and future. Environmental Conservation, 29, 436 459.
49. Tilman, D. Lehman, C. (2001) Human-caused environmental change: impacts on plant diversity and evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 98, 5433 5440.
50. Vitousek, P.M., Mooney, H.A., Lubchenco, J. Melillo, J.M. (1997) Human domination of Earth's ecosystems. Science, 277, 494 499.
51. Wellington, G.M. (1982) Depth zonation of corals in the Gulf of Panama: control and facilitation by resident reef fishes. Ecological Monographs, 52, 223 241.
52. Wilcox, B.A. Murphy, D.D. (1985) Conservation strategy: the effects of fragmentation on extinction. The American Naturalist, 125, 879 887.
53. Witman, J.D. (1985) Refuges, biological disturbance, and rocky subtidal community structure in New England. Ecological Monographs, 55, 421 445.
54. Wootton, J.T. (1992) Indirect effects, prey susceptibility, and habitat selection: impacts of birds on limpets and algae. Ecology, 73, 981 991.
55. Wootton, J.T. (1994) The nature and consequences of indirect effects in ecological communities. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 25, 443 466.