A seascape dichotomy in the role of small consumers for coral reef energy fluxes

作者：Simon J. Brandl, Helen F. Yan, Jordan M. Casey, Nina M. D. Schiettekatte, Julianna J. Renzi, Alexandre Mercière, Fabien Morat, Isabelle M. Côté, Valériano Parravicini · 发表于：Ecology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1002/ecy.70065 · 被引用次数：11 · 研究领域：Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies、Marine and fisheries research、Isotope Analysis in Ecology

Biogeochemical fluxes through ecological communities underpin the functioning of ecosystems worldwide. These fluxes are often heavily influenced by small-bodied consumers, such as insects, worms, mollusks, or small vertebrates, which transfer energy and nutrients from autotrophic sources to larger animals. Although coral reefs are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, we know relatively little about how small consumers make energy available to larger predators and how their roles may vary across reefs. Here, we use community-scale collections of small, bottom-dwelling ("cryptobenthic") reef fishes along with size spectrum analyses, stable isotopes, and demographic modeling to examine their role in harnessing and transferring carbon in two distinct coral reef habitats. Using a comprehensive dataset from Mo'orea (French Polynesia), we demonstrate that, despite only being separated by a narrow reef crest, forereef and backreef habitats harbor distinct communities of cryptobenthic fishes that play vastly divergent roles in carbon transfer. Forereef communities in Mo'orea are depauperate, largely consisting of predatory and planktivorous species that have comparatively high standing biomass (both individually and collectively). In these communities, the combination of size spectra and isotope values suggests important contributions of pelagic subsidies, but the rate of biomass production and turnover (i.e., the rate at which biomass is replenished) is relatively low....