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Biogeographical homogeneity of Caribbean coral reef benthos
Author(s) -
Pawlik Joseph R.,
Loh TseLynn
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1365-2699
pISSN - 0305-0270
DOI - 10.1111/jbi.12858
Subject(s) - benthic zone , reef , coral reef , benthos , ecology , biogeography , geography , coral reef fish , marine protected area , overfishing , homogeneous , fishery , fishing , oceanography , biology , habitat , geology , physics , thermodynamics
Caribbean reef benthic assemblages have been considered biogeographically homogeneous at regional scales, but this concept was recently challenged by Williams et al . (2015, Journal of Biogeography , 42 , 1327–1335). These authors concluded that benthic assemblages exhibit considerable biogeographical variability at regional and smaller scales, that rugosity and wave exposure play key roles in structuring assemblages, and that homogenization has yet to occur at a regional scale. We reassess their conclusions using recently published benthic and fish surveys that targeted sites either protected from fishing or intensively overfished. For sponges, regional variation in assemblages is mostly attributable to the removal of chemically undefended species by sponge‐eating fishes at sites protected from overfishing. We maintain that Caribbean benthic assemblages are remarkably homogeneous when compared to reefs in other tropical regions, and were likely more homogeneous before the localized effects of intensive fishing resulted in top‐down ecosystem alterations in benthic assemblages.