Humans and seasonal climate variability threaten large-bodied coral reef fish with small ranges

C Mellin (1, 2) , D Mouillot (3, 4) , Michel Kulbicki (5, 6) , Timothy R. Mcclanahan (7) , L Vigliola (5, 6) , C.J.A. Bradshaw (2) , R. E. Brainard (8) , Pascale Chabanet (5, 6) , G. J. Edgar (9) , D. A. Fordham (2) , A. M. Friedlander (10, 11) , V Parravicini (12, 13, 4) , A. M. M. Sequeira (14) , R. D. Stuart-Smith (9) , L Wantiez (15) , M. J. Caley (1)

1 AIMS - Australian Institute of Marine Science
2 School of Biological Sciences
3 UMR MARBEC - MARine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation
4 Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
5 LabEX CORAIL - Laboratoire d'Excellence CORAIL
6 ENTROPIE [Réunion] - Ecologie marine tropicale dans les Océans Pacifique et Indien
7 Marine Programs
8 NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
9 IMAS - Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies [Hobart]
10 Fisheries Ecology Research Lab
11 National Geographic Society
12 Centre de Synthése et d'Analyse sur la Biodiversité
13 CRIOBE - Centre de recherches insulaires et observatoire de l'environnement
14 The UWA Oceans Institute
15 LIVE - Laboratoire Insulaire du Vivant et de l'Environnement

Coral reefs are among the most species-rich and threatened ecosystems on Earth, yet the extent to which human stressors determine species occurrences, compared with biogeography or environmental conditions, remains largely unknown. With ever-increasing human-mediated disturbances on these ecosystems, an important question is not only how many species can inhabit local communities, but also which biological traits determine species that can persist (or not) above particular disturbance thresholds. Here we show that human pressure and seasonal climate variability are disproportionately and negatively associated with the occurrence of large-bodied and geographically small-ranging fishes within local coral reef communities. These species are 67% less likely to occur where human impact and temperature seasonality exceed critical thresholds, such as in the marine biodiversity hotspot: the Coral Triangle. Our results identify the most sensitive species and critical thresholds of human and climatic stressors, providing opportunity for targeted conservation intervention to prevent local extinctions.

Mots clés: Oceanography; Biological sciences; Ecology

Domaines: Milieux et Changements globaux

C Mellin, D Mouillot, Michel Kulbicki, Timothy R. Mcclanahan, L Vigliola, et al.. Humans and seasonal climate variability threaten large-bodied coral reef fish with small ranges. Nature Communications, 2016, 7, pp.10491. ⟨10.1038/ncomms10491⟩. ⟨hal-01282870⟩