Volume 68
Consumptive and Non-consumptive Effects of an Invasive Marine Predator on Native Coral-reef Herbivores
Authors
Kindinger, T.L., M.A. Albins, and M.A. Hixon Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2015
Pages: 160 - 162
Event: Proceedings of the Sixty eigth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Panama City
Country: Panama
Abstract
Predators can affect prey population dynamics through both direct consumptive effects (CEs; Taylor 1984, Murdoch et al. 2013) and non-consumptive effects (NCEs), or energetically-costly phenotypic alterations in prey. Invasive predators typically have larger effects on native prey populations than native predators (Salo et al. 2007), yet the role and relative importance of their CEs versus NCEs in structuring invaded systems remains unclear. Without considering potential NCEs, the overall effects of invasive predators on native communities and ecosystems could be greatly underestimated. We tested for both CEs and NCEs of the invasive red lionfish (Pterois volitans) on an important ecosystem function of native herbivo-rous fishes: reducing the abundance of benthic algae that could otherwise displace corals on reefs.