Abstract

Invasive lionfish have been shown to have many deleterious effects on native reef fish populations in the western Atlantic, reducing recruitment by up to 80% and prey fish biomass by 65%. Few studies have been able to compare baseline fish recruit communities on natural reefs before and after the invasion. With historical data going back over a decade, we look at the differences in community structure before and after the lionfish invasion at seven sites around Turneffe Atoll, Belize. Significant differences in the abundance of some species were found across survey years, with 2002-2004 typically having similar abundances and 2013 being most different from the others. A nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis was used to compare overall community structure. We found differences in the structure of recruit communities across this decadal time scale; with some species being more frequently observed post invasion while others were more common prior to the invasion. It is currently unclear if the lionfish invasion (ca. 2008) is the primary factor for the observed shift in community structure at Turneffe Atoll or if other factors are the primary driver (e.g. Hurricanes, coastal development, bleaching events etc.). Future manipulative studies need to be performed to determine the primary causes of the shifts in fish communities that are currently being observed at Turneffe Atoll.

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