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Facilitation in Caribbean coral reefs: high densities of staghorn coral foster greater coral condition and reef fish composition

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Abstract

Recovery of the threatened staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) is posited to play a key role in Caribbean reef resilience. At four Caribbean locations (including one restored and three extant populations), we quantified characteristics of contemporary staghorn coral across increasing conspecific densities, and investigated a hypothesis of facilitation between staghorn coral and reef fishes. High staghorn densities in the Dry Tortugas exhibited significantly less partial mortality, higher branch growth, and supported greater fish abundances compared to lower densities within the same population. In contrast, partial mortality, branch growth, and fish community composition did not vary with staghorn density at the three other study locations where staghorn densities were lower overall. This suggests that density-dependent effects between the coral and fish community may only manifest at high staghorn densities. We then evaluated one facilitative mechanism for such density-dependence, whereby abundant fishes sheltering in dense staghorn aggregations deliver nutrients back to the coral, fueling faster coral growth, thereby creating more fish habitat. Indeed, dense staghorn aggregations within the Dry Tortugas exhibited significantly higher growth rates, tissue nitrogen, and zooxanthellae densities than sparse aggregations. Similarly, higher tissue nitrogen was induced in a macroalgae bioassay outplanted into the same dense and sparse aggregations, confirming greater bioavailability of nutrients at high staghorn densities. Our findings inform staghorn restoration efforts, suggesting that the most effective targets may be higher coral densities than previously thought. These coral-dense aggregations may reap the benefits of positive facilitation between the staghorn and fish community, favoring the growth and survivorship of this threatened species.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this project was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Program and the National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Regional Office. Logistical support was provided by the National Park Service (T. Ziegler, T. Gottshall, and K. Nimmo), The Nature Conservancy (K. Amon-Lewis and C. Clade), and the NOAA Restoration Center (T. Moore and S. Griffin). Sampling was conducted under permits DRTO-2014-SCI-0005 from the National Park Service, STX026-12 from the US Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife, and SAL-14-1546-SRP from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Field assistance from A. Bright, C. Cameron, M. Ladd, K. Ondrasik, and C. Vilmar is gratefully acknowledged. This manuscript was greatly improved by the constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers and Dr. Stuart Sandin, handling editor.

Author contribution statement

BH and MM conceived and designed the monitoring study and experiments. All authors contributed to completing field surveys and experiments. LR and RP processed experiments in the laboratory. BH analyzed the data and led authorship of the manuscript; other authors provided substantial editorial advice during multiple manuscript revisions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 33149, USA

    Brittany E. Huntington, Rachel Pausch & Lee Richter

  2. Protected Resources Division, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Miami, FL, 33149, USA

    Margaret W. Miller

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  1. Brittany E. Huntington
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Correspondence to Brittany E. Huntington.

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Funding

Funding for this project was provided by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP Project ID 819), the National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Regional Office, and a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Huntington).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by Stuart Sandin.

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Huntington, B.E., Miller, M.W., Pausch, R. et al. Facilitation in Caribbean coral reefs: high densities of staghorn coral foster greater coral condition and reef fish composition. Oecologia 184, 247–257 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-3859-7

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