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Small and large anemonefishes can coexist using the same patchy resources on a coral reef, before habitat destruction
Author(s) -
Hattori Akihisa
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of animal ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.134
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1365-2656
pISSN - 0021-8790
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2656.2002.00649.x
Subject(s) - coral reef , reef , biology , ecology , host (biology) , coral , habitat , population , fishery , sociology , demography
Summary1 According to meta‐population models, a superior competitor and a superior disperser can coexist in a patchy environment. The two anemonefishes, a large aggressive Amphiprion clarkiiBennett and a small less‐aggressiveA. perideraionBleeker, use the same host anemoneHeteractis crispa Ehrenberg on a coral reef, Okinawa, Japan, where most of the hosts disappeared after the coral bleaching in 1998. Their microhabitat (host) use and coexistence, and the quality and quantity of microhabitats were investigated in 1988, 1989, 1999 and 2000 on the coral reef. Their interspecific interaction was also examined. 2 Before the habitat destruction, the two species coexisted. Although A. clarkiiwas behaviourally dominant overA. perideraionin a cohabiting group,A. perideraionwas a superior competitor in terms of site displacement, becauseA. perideraioncould displace a microhabitat. AdultA. clarkiiemigrated from a cohabiting group probably due to the high cost of interactions with adultA. perideraion. Although it is easier to defend a small area for a larger species, sharing a host with adultA. perideraionmay not pay forA. clarkiibecauseA. clarkii needs a larger area. 3 A. clarkiiwas not only a superior disperser, which was able to find a vacated host, but also a pioneer species that was able to use newly settled small hosts. LarvalA. clarkiisettled on such a small host because they were able to move to larger hosts for future reproduction, whileA. perideraion did not settle on a small host because of low mobility after settlement. Microhabitat (host) with various sizes might have promoted their coexistence. 4 After the habitat destruction, the superior competitor A. perideraion went extinct locally due probably to lack of small host utilization ability. The present study implies that the difference in body size between the two competitors plays an important role in their coexistence, because species with different body sizes can have different mobility and require different amounts of resources.