Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Remote video surveys unveil the diurnal variability of trophic-based processes by fishes on coral reefs

  • Report
  • Published:
Coral Reefs Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Feeding activities by fishes are among the key ecological processes that sustain coral reef functioning. Those trophic-based processes are known to vary across space and across seasons or years. However, there is still little knowledge about their variability within and between days as well as whether these processes are dominated by the same species across time. Using remote underwater cameras, we quantified rates of three feeding activities (corallivory, herbivory and invertivory) for three one-hour time slots (morning, midday, afternoon) over two days on two coral reefs around Mayotte Island (Western Indian Ocean). Feeding activities were highly variable at within and between-day scales and concentrated in a few pulses. Herbivory was the highest in the afternoon which aligns with previous findings regarding activity of herbivorous fishes. Corallivory was the highest in the morning, which highlights the advantage of long-duration benthic remote underwater videos to accurately assess all trophic activities. Trophic-related processes were dominated by the same few species in both sites and across time of the day. This study pinpoints the importance of including within-day and between-day variations when studying ecological processes, as neglecting these variations may introduce biases into our understanding of these processes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Armitage AR, Ho C-K, Quigg A (2013) The interactive effects of pulsed grazing disturbance and patch size vary among wetland arthropod guilds. PLoS ONE 8:e76672

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bacheler NM, Shertzer KW, Runde BJ, Rudershausen PJ, Buckel JA (2021) Environmental conditions, diel period, and fish size influence the horizontal and vertical movements of red snapper. Sci Rep 11:9580

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood DR, Hoey AS, Choat JH (2003) Limited functional redundancy in high diversity systems: resilience and ecosystem function on coral reefs. Ecol Lett 6:281–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood DR, Hughes TP, Folke C, Nyström M (2004) Confronting the coral reef crisis. Nature 429:827–833

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood DR, Hughes TP, Hoey AS (2006) Sleeping functional group drives coral-reef Recovery. Curr Biol 16:2434–2439

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett S, Bellwood DR (2011) Latitudinal variation in macroalgal consumption by fishes on the Great Barrier Reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 426:241–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bijoux JP, Dagorn L, Berke G, Cowley PD, Soria M, Gaertner J-C, Robinson J (2013) Temporal dynamics, residency and site fidelity of spawning aggregations of a herbivorous tropical reef fish Siganus sutor. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 475:233–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birt MJ, Harvey ES, Langlois TJ (2012) Within and between day variability in temperate reef fish assemblages: learned response to baited video. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 416–417:92–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonaldo RM, Hoey AS, Bellwood DR (2014) The ecosystem roles of parrotfishes on tropical reefs. Oceanography and marine biology. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandl SJ, Rasher DB, Côté IM, Casey JM, Darling ES, Lefcheck JS, Duffy JE (2019) Coral reef ecosystem functioning: eight core processes and the role of biodiversity. Front Ecol Environ 17:445–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catano LB, Barton MB, Boswell KM, Burkepile DE (2017) Predator identity and time of day interact to shape the risk–reward trade-off for herbivorous coral reef fishes. Oecologia 183:763–773

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colton DE, Alevizon WS (1981) Diurnal variability in a fish assemblage of a Bahamian coral reef. Environ Biol Fishes 6:341–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cvitanovic C, Bellwood DR (2009) Local variation in herbivore feeding activity on an inshore reef of the Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs 28:127–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ditria EM, Lopez-Marcano S, Sievers M, Jinks EL, Brown CJ, Connolly RM (2020) Automating the analysis of fish abundance using object detection: optimizing animal ecology with deep learning. Front Mar Sci 7:429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunkley K, Dunkley A, Drewnicki J, Keith I, Herbert-Read JE (2023) A low-cost, long-running, open-source stereo camera for tracking aquatic species and their behaviours. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 14:2549–2556

  • Escalas A, Avouac A, Belmaker J, Bouvier T, Clédassou V, Ferraton F, Rieuvilleneuve F, Rilov G, Rovirosa Mulet A, Shapiro Goldberg D, Villéger S (2022) An invasive herbivorous fish (Siganus rivulatus) influences both benthic and planktonic microbes through defecation and nutrient excretion. Sci Total Environ 838:156207

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fouda E-S (1996) Distribution and feeding habits of two Surgeonfish, Zebrasoma xanthurum and Ctenochaetus striatus in the Gulf of Aqaba. Red Sea Mar Sci 17:1–2

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox R, Bellwood D (2008) Direct versus indirect methods of quantifying herbivore grazing impact on a coral reef. Mar Biol 154:325–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Froese R, Pauly, D (Eds) (2023). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://www.fishbase.se/summary/citation.php. Accessed June 2023

  • Gibson K, Olofsson J, Mooers AØ, Monroe MJ (2021) Pulse grazing by reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) can increase the phylogenetic diversity of vascular plant communities in the Fennoscandian tundra. Ecol Evol 11:14598–14614

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hoey AS, Bellwood DR (2009) Limited functional redundancy in a high diversity system: single species dominates key ecological process on coral reefs. Ecosystems 12:1316–1328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houlbrèque F, Ferrier-Pagès C (2009) Heterotrophy in tropical scleractinian corals. Biol Rev 84:1–17

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes TP, Barnes ML, Bellwood DR, Cinner JE, Cumming GS, Jackson JBC, Kleypas J, van de Leemput IA, Lough JM, Morrison TH, Palumbi SR, van Nes EH, Scheffer M (2017) Coral reefs in the Anthropocene. Nature 546:82–90

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kerry JT, Bellwood DR (2015) The functional role of tabular structures for large reef fishes: avoiding predators or solar irradiance? Coral Reefs 34:693–702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowlton N, Jackson JBC (2008) Shifting baselines, local impacts, and global change on coral reefs. PLOS Biol 6:e54

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lefèvre CD, Bellwood DR (2011) Temporal variation in coral reef ecosystem processes: herbivory of macroalgae by fishes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 422:239–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehodey P, Alheit J, Barange M, Baumgartner T, Beaugrand G, Drinkwater K, Fromentin J-M, Hare SR, Ottersen G, Perry RI, Roy C, van der Lingen CD, Werner F (2006) Climate variability, fish, and fisheries. J Clim 19:5009–5030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longo GO, Ferreira CEL, Floeter SR (2014) Herbivory drives large-scale spatial variation in reef fish trophic interactions. Ecol Evol 4:4553–4566

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Longo GO, Hay ME, Ferreira CEL, Floeter SR (2019) Trophic interactions across 61 degrees of latitude in the Western Atlantic. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 28:107–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luise Bach L, Smith B (2021) Within and between day variability in coral reef fish assemblages: implications for fish community surveys. J Appl Ichthyol 37:847–856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magneville C, Leréec Le Bricquir M-L, Dailianis T, Skouradakis G, Claverie T, Villéger S (2023) Long-duration remote underwater videos reveal that grazing by fishes is highly variable through time and dominated by non-indigenous species. Remote Sens Ecol Conserv 9:311–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE, Henderson PA (2010) Temporal turnover and the maintenance of diversity in ecological assemblages. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 365:3611–3620. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers EMV, Harvey ES, Saunders BJ, Travers MJ (2016) Fine-scale patterns in the day, night and crepuscular composition of a temperate reef fish assemblage. Mar Ecol 37:668–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palardy JE, Grottoli AG, Matthews KA (2006) Effect of naturally changing zooplankton concentrations on feeding rates of two coral species in the Eastern Pacific. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 331:99–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palardy J, Grottoli A, Matthews K (2005) Effects of upwelling, depth, morphology and polyp size on feeding in three species of Panamanian corals. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 300:79–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parravicini V, Casey JM, Schiettekatte NMD, Brandl SJ, Pozas-Schacre C, Carlot J, Edgar GJ, Graham NAJ, Harmelin-Vivien M, Kulbicki M, Strona G, Stuart-Smith RD (2020) Delineating reef fish trophic guilds with global gut content data synthesis and phylogeny. PLOS Biol 18:e3000702

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pickholtz R, Kiflawi M, Crossin GT, Pickholtz EY, Zamsky R, Kahan I, Gavriel T, Belmaker J (2022) Highly repetitive space-use dynamics in parrotfishes. Coral Reefs 41:1059–1073

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickholtz R, Kiflawi M, Friedlander A, Belmaker J (2018) Habitat utilization by an invasive herbivorous fish (Siganus rivulatus) in its native and invaded range. Biol Invasions 20:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price NW, Chen K-S, Chen CA, Wen CK-C (2021) Scraping and grazing herbivorous/detritivorous fish display opposite feeding behaviours under different protection regulations. Mar Biol Res 17:876–891

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasher DB, Hoey AS, Hay ME (2013) Consumer diversity interacts with prey defenses to drive ecosystem function. Ecology 94:1347–1358

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson J, Aumeeruddy R, Jörgensen TL, Öhman MC (2008) Dynamics of camouflage (Epinephelus Polyphekadion) and brown marbled grouper (Epinephelus Fuscoguttatus) spawning aggregations at a remote reef site, seychelles. Bull Mar Sci 83:415–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Rooker JR, Dennis GD (1991) Diel, lunar and seasonal changes in a mangrove fish assemblage off Southwestern Puerto Rico. Bull Mar Sci 49:684–698

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiettekatte NMD, Brandl SJ, Casey JM, Graham NAJ, Barneche DR, Burkepile DE, Allgeier JE, Arias-Gonzaléz JE, Edgar GJ, Ferreira CEL, Floeter SR, Friedlander AM, Green AL, Kulbicki M, Letourneur Y, Luiz OJ, Mercière A, Morat F, Munsterman KS, Rezende EL, Rodríguez-Zaragoza FA, Stuart-Smith RD, Vigliola L, Villéger S, Parravicini V (2022) Biological trade-offs underpin coral reef ecosystem functioning. Nat Ecol Evol 6:701–708

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Semmler RF, Brandl SJ, Keith SA, Bellwood DR (2021) Fine-scale foraging behavior reveals differences in the functional roles of herbivorous reef fishes. Ecol Evol 11:4898–4908

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro Goldberg D, Rilov G, Villéger S, Belmaker J (2021) Predation cues lead to reduced foraging of invasive Siganus rivulatus in the mediterranean. Front Mar Sci 8:678848

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siqueira AC, Morais RA, Bellwood DR, Cowman PF (2021) Planktivores as trophic drivers of global coral reef fish diversity patterns. Proc Natl Acad Sci 118:e2019404118

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Taborsky M, Limberger D (1980) The activity rhythm of Blennius sanguinolentus Pallas*. Mar Ecol 1:143–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tebbett SB, Hoey AS, Depczynski M, Wismer S, Bellwood DR (2017) Macroalgae removal on coral reefs: realised ecosystem functions transcend biogeographic locations. Coral Reefs 39:203–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson A, Mapstone B (2002) Intra- versus inter-annual variation in counts of reef fishes and interpretations of long-term monitoring studies. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 232:247–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treignier C, Grover R, Ferrier-Pagés C, Tolosa I (2008) Effect of light and feeding on the fatty acid and sterol composition of zooxanthellae and host tissue isolated from the scleractinian coral Turbinaria reniformis. Limnol Oceanogr 53:2702–2710

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vergés A, Bennett S, Bellwood DR (2012) Diversity among macroalgae-consuming fishes on coral reefs: a transcontinental comparison. PLoS ONE 7:e45543

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zemke-White WL, Choat J, Clements K (2002) A re-evaluation of the diel feeding hypothesis for marine herbivorous fishes. Mar Biol 141:571–579

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tebbett SB, Goatley CHR, Bellwood DR (2017) Clarifying functional roles: algal removal by the surgeonfishes Ctenochaetus striatus and Acanthurus nigrofuscus. Coral Reefs 36:803-813

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARBEC, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Camille Magneville, Thomas Claverie & Sébastien Villéger

  2. Department of Biology, Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark

    Camille Magneville

  3. Centre Universitaire de Formation et de Recherche de Mayotte, Mayotte, France

    Thomas Claverie

  4. UMR ENTROPIE, IRD, IFREMER, CNRS, Univ La Réunion, Univ Nouvelle-Calédonie, Saint-Denis, Réunion, France

    Thomas Claverie

Authors
  1. Camille Magneville
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas Claverie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sébastien Villéger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Camille Magneville.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Magneville, C., Claverie, T. & Villéger, S. Remote video surveys unveil the diurnal variability of trophic-based processes by fishes on coral reefs. Coral Reefs 43, 253–263 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-023-02436-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-023-02436-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation