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Long-lived groupers require structurally stable reefs in the face of repeated climate change disturbances

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Abstract

Benthic recovery from climate-related disturbances does not always warrant a commensurate functional recovery for reef-associated fish communities. Here, we examine the distribution of benthic groupers (family Serranidae) in coral reef communities from the Lakshadweep archipelago (Arabian Sea) in response to structural complexity and long-term habitat stability. These coral reefs that have been subject to two major El Niño Southern Oscillation-related coral bleaching events in the last decades (1998 and 2010). First, we employ a long-term (12-yr) benthic-monitoring dataset to track habitat structural stability at twelve reef sites in the archipelago. Structural stability of reefs was strongly driven by exposure to monsoon storms and depth, which made deeper and more sheltered reefs on the eastern aspect more stable than the more exposed (western) and shallower reefs. We surveyed groupers (species richness, abundance, biomass) in 60 sites across the entire archipelago, representing both exposures and depths. Sites were selected along a gradient of structural complexity from very low to high. Grouper biomass appeared to vary with habitat stability with significant differences between depth and exposure; sheltered deep reefs had a higher grouper biomass than either sheltered shallow or exposed (deep and shallow) reefs. Species richness and abundance showed similar (though not significant) trends. More interestingly, average grouper biomass increased exponentially with structural complexity, but only at the sheltered deep (high stability) sites, despite the availability of recovered structure at exposed deep and shallow sites (lower-stability sites). This trend was especially pronounced for long-lived groupers (life span >10 yrs). These results suggest that long-lived groupers may prefer temporally stable reefs, independent of the local availability of habitat structure. In reefs subject to repeated disturbances, the presence of structurally stable reefs may be critical as refuges for functionally important, long-lived species like groupers.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Lakshadweep Administration, Department of Environment and Forests, Department of Fisheries and the Department of Science and Technology for permits and logistic support. In addition, we thank Lacadives, Department of tourism (SPORTS) and supporters in the Lakshadweep: J. Hisham, Idris B., and Ibrahim M.K. For support and critical feedback, we thank Dr. K. Shanker, M.D. Madhusudan and Dr. Howells. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers, the editor and T.R. Shankar Raman for their critical inputs to improving the MS. This study was conducted with funding and in-kind support from Rufford Small Grants Foundation, National Geographic and Idea Wild.

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  1. Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5, IV Cross, Gokulam Park, Mysore, 570 002, India

    R. Karkarey, N. Kelkar, A. Savio Lobo, T. Alcoverro & R. Arthur

  2. Department of Marine Ecology, Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB, CSIC), Accés a la Cala S. Francesc 14, 17300, Blanes, Girona, Spain

    T. Alcoverro

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  1. R. Karkarey
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Karkarey, R., Kelkar, N., Lobo, A.S. et al. Long-lived groupers require structurally stable reefs in the face of repeated climate change disturbances. Coral Reefs 33, 289–302 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-013-1117-y

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