PhD thesis data: Variation in structure and function of reef fish assemblages among distinct coral habitats, by Laura E. Richardson (2018)

Brief description

Dataset for phD thesis: Variation in structure and function of reef fish assemblages among distinct coral habitats, by Laura E. Richardson (2018)

Full description

Introduction [from the Thesis Abstract]: Anthropogenic disturbances are altering the abundance and distribution of organisms across biomes, disrupting the function and stability of ecosystems, and the goods and services they provide. On tropical coral reefs, global climate change and a range of local stressors are reducing populations of habitat-building corals, resulting in unprecedented coral loss and marked shifts in coral species dominance due to differential susceptibilities of coral taxa to disturbance. However, the extent to which shifts in coral species composition will alter the organization of associated organisms and undermine the resilience of coral reefs remains unclear. This thesis exploited a natural experiment on reefs surrounding Lizard Island, Australia, where multiple taxonomically distinct coral habitats existed, characterised by dominance of differing coral taxa, to assess the influence of coral species composition on the structure, function and resilience of reef fish assemblages. Specifically, the four data chapters of this thesis (2–5) addressed the following questions: (1) How does coral species composition affect the cross-scale structural complexity of coral reef habitats? (2) How does the functional diversity of reef fish assemblages vary among taxonomically distinct coral habitats? (3) To what extent does pre-disturbance coral species composition influence the susceptibility of reef fish assemblages to coral bleaching events? (4) Do critical herbivory functions (browsing and grazing) vary among distinct coral habitats?

This data collection consists of a spreadsheet saved in both MS Excel (.xlsx) and Open Document (.ods) formats. The files contain 18 worksheets for the data chapters 2-5:

Chapter 2: Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs

• Ch2 Benthos data
• Ch2 cross-scale complexity

This data has been previously published in the Tropical Data Hub and is available from the link below. The full methodology is available from the 'Related Publication' link. 

Richardson, L. (2017). Cross-scale habitat structure driven by coral species composition on tropical reefs. James Cook University. [Data Files] http://dx.doi.org/10.4225/28/593893efcb5cb

Chapter 3: Structural complexity mediates functional structure of reef fish assemblages among coral habitats

• Ch3 site info
• Ch3 benthos data
• Ch3 fish data
• Ch3 traits matrix
• Ch 3 benthos diversity
• Ch3 FD [functional diversity] data

The full methodology is available in the Related Publication.

Chapter 4: Mass coral bleaching causes biotic homogenization of reef fish assemblages

• Ch4 benthos data
• Ch4 fish data
• Ch4 traits matrix
• Ch4 FD [functional diversity] data

The full methodology is available in the Related Publication.

Chapter 5: Differential response of key ecosystem processes to coral composition

• Ch5 benthos data
• Ch5 herbivore fish data
• Ch5 assay data
• Ch5 MA [macroalgal assay] video bite rates
• Ch5 turf assay data
• Ch5 productivity data - unused

The full methodology is available in the author's thesis and in the Related Publication (published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2020)