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The Impact of Mangrove Prop-Root Epibionts on Juvenile Reef Fishes: A Field Experiment Using Artificial Roots and Epifauna

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Abstract

A field experiment was established in Bocas Del Toro, Panama to examine the relationship between sessile organisms living on mangrove prop roots and fish communities. Artificial mangrove roots (AMR) with different sets of artificial (AE) or real epibionts were established in five different locations in two separate years. Fish species in each plot were identified, counted, and their size estimated by visual census for 15 days in each replicate. In the artificial mangrove plots, the treatments with the most heterogeneous structure had significantly greater abundance of most families and species richness of fish in both years of the experiment. AMR plots with AEs attracted a more abundant and diverse fish assemblage than those with live epibionts, which had lower three-dimensional structure. All of the AMR plots had significantly greater fish abundance than comparable plots of sea grass alone. The location of the replicate also made a significant difference to fish abundance. The data indicate that prop-root epibionts can enhance fish abundance and diversity in mangroves, although the relationship may depend on the specific nature of the epibionts and fishes present.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by a STRI Short-Term Fellowship and by The Academic Excellence Fund of the Rutgers University Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution. The authors additionally wish to thank R. Collin, G. Jacome, and P. Gondola at STRI for logistical support, T. Lawrence for field assistance, and T. Robertson, J. Reichmuth, C. Santiago-Bass, A. Candelmo, and L. Bergey for general assistance, and especially two anonymous reviewers for providing invaluable suggestions on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, 195 University Ave, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    James A. MacDonald & Judith S. Weis

  2. Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, 14 College Farm Road, Cook Campus, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    James A. MacDonald & Judith S. Weis

  3. Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, NJ, 07003, USA

    Terry Glover

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  1. James A. MacDonald
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Correspondence to James A. MacDonald.

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MacDonald, J.A., Glover, T. & Weis, J.S. The Impact of Mangrove Prop-Root Epibionts on Juvenile Reef Fishes: A Field Experiment Using Artificial Roots and Epifauna. Estuaries and Coasts 31, 981–993 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-008-9083-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-008-9083-2

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