Abstract

Determining the ecological roles that fishes play in the complex trophic relationships of coral reef systems depends on our ability to detect changes in the fish community composition and function. The functional redundancy of fishes in different habitats is highly influenced by species composition and ontogenetic shifts in diets and feeding behavior across species, as evidenced by different patterns of habitat use and migrations during different life stages. To better understand trophic structure in these communi-ties, we conducted an extensive literature review of trophic functional traits of 274 marine fish species in the U.S. Caribbean. The data were applied to fish community data collected by NOAA’s Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment project (2001 and 2012). Fish traits were extracted for juvenile and adult fish stages separately and selected based on: ontogenetic diet shifts, habitat use for feeding, vertical habitat association, feeding behavior, diet plasticity, and trophic location in the food web. Presence and absence of functional traits were recorded because differences in trait measurements among studies were expected. Traits of adult stages were better documented than traits of juveniles. Trophic level was the most frequently recorded trait for adults (95%) and feeding ground was best documented for juveniles (17%). Feeding ground was the poorest trait recorded for adult stages (61%), as was vertical habitat association for juvenile stages (1%). Significant gaps in knowledge of trophic roles of juvenile fishes represent a need to increase research efforts to understand juvenile trophic ecology. We provide recommendations for research to address these gaps and to use this dataset for functional diversity analysis.

PDF Preview