Resilience and signatures of tropicalization in protected reef fish communities

Abstract

The marine environment is under threat from climate change. This study finds that marine reserves can maintain biodiversity and abundance of large-bodied individuals in a warming environment. They also protect against colonization by range-shifting species when compared with fished sites. Habitat reserves can promote ecological resilience to climate variability by supporting intact trophic webs and large-bodied individuals1,2,3. Protection may also alter community responses to long-term climate change by offering habitat for range-shifting species4. Here we analyse the species richness, diversity and functional traits of temperate reef fish communities over 20 years in a global warming hotspot and compare patterns in a marine reserve with nearby sites open to fishing. Species richness and diversity oscillated strongly on the decadal scale. Long-term warming signatures were also present as increasing functional trait richness and functional diversity, driven in part by a general increase in herbivores. Nevertheless, reserve sites were distinguished from fished sites by displaying: greater stability in some aspects of biodiversity; recovery of large-bodied temperate species; resistance to colonization by subtropical vagrants; and less pronounced increases in the community-averaged temperature affinity. We empirically demonstrate that protection from fishing has buffered fluctuations in biodiversity and provided resistance to the initial stages of tropicalization.

Cite this article

Bates, A., Barrett, N., Stuart-Smith, R. et al. Resilience and signatures of tropicalization in protected reef fish communities. Nature Clim Change 4, 62–67 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2062

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