CEBIMário: Fish vulnerability to coral loss in Southwestern Atlantic marginal reef

Local: Canal do CEBIMar no YouTube, link: https://youtu.be/WALioHJZgLg

Palestrante: André Luza (UFSM)

Organizador: Juan Pablo Quimbayo (CEBIMar/USP)

Resumo: Marginal reefs of Southwestern Atlantic sustain coral assemblages and are inhabited by numerous fishes. This may lead to assumptions that corals play minor roles in determining the occurrence of other species in these reefs, underestimating fish vulnerability to coral declines. In this talk I will show that ~50% of 47 studied reef fishes had occurrence positively influenced by coral cover. More importantly: the simulated loss of these fishes, as expected by climate-driven coral declines, reduced 36% of fish functional diversity, almost twice the reduction expected by chance. Despite the low cover and richness in marginal reefs, corals sustain vulnerable ecological roles and ecosystem services mediated by coral-associated fishes.