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Wave-induced abiotic stress shapes phenotypic diversity in a coral reef fish across a geographical cline

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Abstract

While morphological variation across geographical clines has been well documented, it is often unclear whether such changes enhance individual performance to local environments. We examined whether the damselfish Acanthochromis polyacanthus display functional changes in swimming phenotype across a 40-km cline in wave-driven water motion on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. A. polyacanthus populations displayed strong intraspecific variation in swimming morphology and performance that matched local levels of water motion: individuals on reefs subject to high water motion displayed higher aspect-ratio fins and faster swimming speeds than conspecifics on sheltered reefs. Remarkably, intraspecific variation within A. polyacanthus spanned over half the diversity seen among closely related damselfish species from the same region. We find that local selection driven by wave-induced abiotic stress is an overarching ecological mechanism shaping the inter- and intraspecific locomotor diversity of coral reef fishes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Lizard Island Research Station staff, R. Bonaldo, A. Gonzalez-Cabello, A. Hoey, W. Robbins and T. Sunderland for field assistance, M. Noble for illustrations, two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments, the Australian Research Council (C.J.F., D.R.B.), Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation (C.J.F.) and Australian National University (C.J.F., S.A.B.) for funding. This study was conducted with approval of JCU and ANU Animal Experimentation Ethics Committees.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

    C. J. Fulton & S. A. Binning

  2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    C. J. Fulton & D. R. Bellwood

  3. Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    P. C. Wainwright

Authors
  1. C. J. Fulton
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  2. S. A. Binning
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  3. P. C. Wainwright
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  4. D. R. Bellwood
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Correspondence to C. J. Fulton.

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Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Stephen Swearer

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Fulton, C.J., Binning, S.A., Wainwright, P.C. et al. Wave-induced abiotic stress shapes phenotypic diversity in a coral reef fish across a geographical cline. Coral Reefs 32, 685–689 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-013-1039-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-013-1039-8

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