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Biological interactions both facilitate and resist climate-related functional change in temperate reef communities
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 05:53 authored by Bates, AE, Richard Stuart-SmithRichard Stuart-Smith, Neville BarrettNeville Barrett, Graham EdgarGraham EdgarShifts in the abundance and location of species are restructuring life on the Earth, presenting the need to build resilience into our natural systems. Here, we tested if protection from fishing promotes community resilience in temperate reef communities undergoing rapid warming in Tasmania. Regardless of protection status, we detected a signature of warming in the brown macroalgae, invertebrates and fishes, through increases in the local richness and abundance of warm-affinity species. Even so, responses in protected communities diverged from exploited communities. At the local scale, the number of cool-affinity fishes and canopy-forming algal species increased following protection, even though the observation window fell within a period of warming. At the same time, exploited communities gained turf algal and sessile invertebrate species. We further found that the recovery of predator populations following protection leads to marked declines in mobile invertebrates—this trend could be incorrectly attributed to warming without contextual data quantifying community change across trophic levels. By comparing long-term change in exploited and protected reefs, we empirically demonstrate the role of biological interactions in both facilitating and resisting climate-related biodiversity change. We further highlight the potential for trophic interactions to alter the progression of both range expansions and contractions.
Funding
Australian Research Council
Department of Parks and Wildlife (Western Australia)
Dept of Environment & Natural Resources South Australia
NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water
Parks Victoria
Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service
History
Publication title
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological SciencesVolume
284Issue
1856Article number
20170484Number
20170484Pagination
1-7ISSN
0962-8452Department/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesPublisher
Royal Soc LondonPlace of publication
6 Carlton House Terrace, London, England, Sw1Y 5AgRights statement
Copyright 2017 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society.Repository Status
- Restricted