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Habitat structure and recruitment in coral reef fishes

  • Chapter
Habitat Structure

Part of the book series: Population and Community Biology Series ((PCBS,volume 8))

Abstract

Coral reefs are an environment which is structurally complex on a wide range of spatial scales. At a scale of centimetres there are the strong structural differences between different taxa of corals, or between corals and the various other substrata present. These latter include eroded calcareous rock often covered by coralline algae, thickets of algal turf, or, in some places or seasons, dense stands of macroalgae, sponges, anemones and other sessile fauna, coral rubble, and sands. At a scale of metres, reefs consist of patches of hard substratum, often with considerable vertical relief, and expanses of sand. At tens to hundreds of metres reefs are present as physiographically quite distinctive zones differing in depth and degree of exposure to wave action. The differing physicochemical conditions in fore-reef, surge channel, reef crest, reef flat, and back-reef provide quite distinctive environments with differing degrees of live coral cover, of vertical relief, and of water movement. Finally, at scales of kilometres or greater, reefs array themselves as discrete patches separated from other reefs by deeper open oceanic water.

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Authors
  1. P. F. Sale
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Susan S. Bell , Earl D. McCoy  & Henry R. Mushinsky ,  & 

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© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Sale, P.F. (1991). Habitat structure and recruitment in coral reef fishes. In: Bell, S.S., McCoy, E.D., Mushinsky, H.R. (eds) Habitat Structure. Population and Community Biology Series, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3076-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3076-9_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5363-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-3076-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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