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As predators play a central role in prey population regulation, predicting the impact of a novel predator requires determining how the invader affects the compensatory dynamics that underlie native prey persistence. The Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans is an invasive meso- predator that voraciously consumes native coral-reef fishes of the tropical western Atlantic and Caribbean. The fairy basslet Gramma loreto is a common prey of lionfish, and pre-invasion research has demonstrated that basslet populations undergo regulating density-dependent mor- tality due to predation. To unequivocally measure lionfish effects on prey mortality and to test whether prey survival remained density-dependent when exposed to predation by the invader, a controlled field experiment was conducted wherein both fairy basslet settlement density and lion- fish presence were manipulated by divers on natural coral reefs. On reefs with and without lion- fish, fairy basslet populations were repeatedly censused over the 28 d experimental period and mortality rates across a gradient of prey densities were quantified. Per capita loss of fairy basslet was density-dependent on reefs with and without introduced lionfish; however, the magnitude of this loss was significantly higher on reefs with the invader present. High mortality rates at low prey density resulted in local extinction of 2 of 14 fairy basslet populations exposed to the invader, a phenomenon observed only on lionfish reefs. Further, 9 out of 14 lionfish-exposed prey popula- tions showed loss rates of >50% compared with just 3 prey populations with such rates on native- only reefs.

Lionfish cause increased mortality rates and drive local extirpation of native prey