Abstract

Rare species are an important conservation target, and can provide key insights regarding the processes driving patterns in regional diversity. However, while many studies of Caribbean reef fish assemblages have examined pat-terns in richness, few have focused specifically on the rarity. The abundance and composition of rare species within assemblages may be influenced by evolutionary history, biogeography, and habitat specificity within taxa. Anthropogen-ic impacts may also influence the prevalence of rare species. We use observations from the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) Fish Monitoring Project to characterize patterns in rarity throughout the Caribbean basin. The REEF Fish Monitoring Project is a large, multi-decadal citizen science effort that has generated over 120,000 diver hours of reef fish species observations across the Caribbean. Using these data, we assess rarity patterns throughout the region, and compare these to expectations based on species ecology, evolutionary histories, and habitat characteristics.

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