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Fish sounds of photic and mesophotic coral reefs: variation with depth and type of island

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Abstract

Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems remain largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to determine how the acoustic fish biodiversity varied depending on the depth and the type of island in six Polynesian islands. The link between benthic cover and fish sound diversity was established. In most islands, acoustic fish α-diversity decreased between 20 and 60 m but not between 60 and 120 m. Fish sound types community composition was more driven by depth, likely due to benthic coral cover differences, than by the type of island. These results show fish sounds exhibit a bathymetric stratification and can reflect different habitat features. It opens perspectives in the monitoring of mesophotic coral ecosystems using passive acoustics.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the divers of the Under The Pole (UTP) Team for the positioning of the autonomous recorders. We are also grateful to all UTP III Expedition crew who greatly contributed to the success of the expedition.

Funding

This research was funded by the ANR DEEPHOPE (ANRAAPG 2017 #168722), the Délégation à la Recherche DEEPCORAL, the CNRS DEEPREEF and the IFRECOR. The technical dives were funded through the Under The Pole Expedition III.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Functional and Evolutionary Morphology, Freshwater and Oceanic Science Unit of Research, B6c Allée du 6 Août, University of Liège, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    Xavier Raick, G. Bardout, Frédéric Bertucci & Éric Parmentier

  2. Chorus Institute, 5 Rue Gallice, 38100, Grenoble, France

    Xavier Raick, Lucia Di Iorio & Cédric Gervaise

  3. Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, CNRS, CEFREM UMR 5110, 52 Avenue Paul Alduy, 66860, Perpignan, France

    Lucia Di Iorio

  4. PSL University, EPHE-UPVD-CNRS, USR 3278 CRIOBE, BP 1013, 98729, Papetoai, Moorea, French Polynesia

    David Lecchini, Laetitia Hédouin, Gonzalo Pérez-Rosales, Héloïse Rouzé & Frédéric Bertucci

  5. Laboratoire d’Excellence “CORAIL”, 58 Avenue Paul Alduy, 66860, Perpignan, France

    David Lecchini & Laetitia Hédouin

  6. Marine Laboratory, University of Guam, 96923, Mangilao, GU, USA

    Héloïse Rouzé

Authors
  1. Xavier Raick
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  2. Lucia Di Iorio
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  3. David Lecchini
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  4. Cédric Gervaise
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  6. Gonzalo Pérez-Rosales
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  7. Héloïse Rouzé
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  8. Frédéric Bertucci
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  9. Éric Parmentier
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Consortia

Under The Pole Consortium

  • G. Bardout
  • , J. Fauchet
  • , A. Ferucci
  • , F. Gazzola
  • , G. Lagarrigue
  • , J. Leblond
  • , E. Marivint
  • , A. Mittau
  • , N. Mollon
  • , N. Paulme
  • , E. Périé-Bardout
  • , R. Pete
  • , S. Pujolle
  •  & G. Siu

Contributions

XR analysed and interpreted the acoustic data under the supervision of LDI and EP. XR wrote the first version of the manuscript. XR, EP and LDI wrote the final version of the manuscript with inputs from GPR and FB. LDI conceived the analyses. DL and LH helped with funding acquisition. CG provided algorithms. UTP performed the sampling. GPR and HR provided data from cover quadrats analyses under the supervision of LH. FB prepared the acoustic equipment for the sampling and stored the data.

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Correspondence to Xavier Raick or Lucia Di Iorio.

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Raick, X., Di Iorio, L., Lecchini, D. et al. Fish sounds of photic and mesophotic coral reefs: variation with depth and type of island. Coral Reefs 42, 285–297 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-022-02343-7

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