Coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an Australian zootone
Distributions of mobile animals have been shown to be heavily influenced by habitat and climate. We address the historical and contemporary context of fish habitats within a major zootone: the Recherche Archipelago, southern western Australia. Baited remote underwater video systems were set in nine...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Public Library of Science
2013
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| Online Access: | http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0080955#pone-0080955-g006 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18047 |
| _version_ | 1848749632480346112 |
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| author | Harvey, Euan Cappo, M. Kendrick, G. McLean, D. |
| author_facet | Harvey, Euan Cappo, M. Kendrick, G. McLean, D. |
| author_sort | Harvey, Euan |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Distributions of mobile animals have been shown to be heavily influenced by habitat and climate. We address the historical and contemporary context of fish habitats within a major zootone: the Recherche Archipelago, southern western Australia. Baited remote underwater video systems were set in nine habitat types within three regions to determine the species diversity and relative abundance of bony fishes, sharks and rays. Constrained ordinations and multivariate prediction and regression trees were used to examine the effects of gradients in longitude, depth, distance from islands and coast, and epibenthic habitat on fish assemblage composition. A total of 90 species from 43 families were recorded from a wide range of functional groups. Ordination accounted for 19% of the variation in the assemblage composition when constrained by spatial and epibenthic covariates, and identified redundancy in the use of distance from the nearest emergent island as a predictor. A spatial hierarchy of fourteen fish assemblages was identified using multivariate prediction and regression trees, with the primary split between assemblages on macroalgal reefs, and those on bare or sandy habitats supporting seagrass beds. The characterisation of indicator species for assemblages within the hierarchy revealed important faunal break in fish assemblages at 122.30 East at Cape Le Grand and subtle niche partitioning amongst species within the labrids and monacanthids. For example, some species of monacanthids were habitat specialists and predominantly found on seagrass (Acanthaluteres vittiger, Scobinichthys granulatus), reef (Meuschenia galii, Meuschenia hippocrepis) or sand habitats (Nelusetta ayraudi). Predatory fish that consume molluscs, crustaceans and cephalopods were dominant with evidence of habitat generalisation in reef species to cope with local disturbances by wave action. Niche separation within majorgenera, and a sub-regional faunal break, indicate future zootone mapping should recognise both cross shelf andlongshore environmental gradients. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:24:01Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-18047 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:24:01Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-180472017-05-30T08:01:01Z Coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an Australian zootone Harvey, Euan Cappo, M. Kendrick, G. McLean, D. Marine fish Reefs Habitats Species delimitation Marine biology Coral reefs Species diversity Longitude Distributions of mobile animals have been shown to be heavily influenced by habitat and climate. We address the historical and contemporary context of fish habitats within a major zootone: the Recherche Archipelago, southern western Australia. Baited remote underwater video systems were set in nine habitat types within three regions to determine the species diversity and relative abundance of bony fishes, sharks and rays. Constrained ordinations and multivariate prediction and regression trees were used to examine the effects of gradients in longitude, depth, distance from islands and coast, and epibenthic habitat on fish assemblage composition. A total of 90 species from 43 families were recorded from a wide range of functional groups. Ordination accounted for 19% of the variation in the assemblage composition when constrained by spatial and epibenthic covariates, and identified redundancy in the use of distance from the nearest emergent island as a predictor. A spatial hierarchy of fourteen fish assemblages was identified using multivariate prediction and regression trees, with the primary split between assemblages on macroalgal reefs, and those on bare or sandy habitats supporting seagrass beds. The characterisation of indicator species for assemblages within the hierarchy revealed important faunal break in fish assemblages at 122.30 East at Cape Le Grand and subtle niche partitioning amongst species within the labrids and monacanthids. For example, some species of monacanthids were habitat specialists and predominantly found on seagrass (Acanthaluteres vittiger, Scobinichthys granulatus), reef (Meuschenia galii, Meuschenia hippocrepis) or sand habitats (Nelusetta ayraudi). Predatory fish that consume molluscs, crustaceans and cephalopods were dominant with evidence of habitat generalisation in reef species to cope with local disturbances by wave action. Niche separation within majorgenera, and a sub-regional faunal break, indicate future zootone mapping should recognise both cross shelf andlongshore environmental gradients. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18047 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0080955#pone-0080955-g006 Public Library of Science restricted |
| spellingShingle | Marine fish Reefs Habitats Species delimitation Marine biology Coral reefs Species diversity Longitude Harvey, Euan Cappo, M. Kendrick, G. McLean, D. Coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an Australian zootone |
| title | Coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an Australian zootone |
| title_full | Coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an Australian zootone |
| title_fullStr | Coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an Australian zootone |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an Australian zootone |
| title_short | Coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an Australian zootone |
| title_sort | coastal fish assemblages reflect geological and oceanographic gradients within an australian zootone |
| topic | Marine fish Reefs Habitats Species delimitation Marine biology Coral reefs Species diversity Longitude |
| url | http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0080955#pone-0080955-g006 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18047 |