Temperate functional niche availability not resident-invader competition shapes tropicalisation in reef fishes.

ABSTRACT: Temperate reefs are at the forefront of warming-induced community alterations resulting from poleward range shifts. This tropicalisation is exemplified and amplified by tropical species' invasions of temperate herbivory functions. However, whether other temperate ecosystem functions are similarly invaded by tropical species, and by what drivers, remains unclear. We examine tropicalisation footprints in nine reef fish functional groups using trait-based analyses and biomass of 550 fish species across tropical to temperate gradients in Japan and Australia. We discover that functional niches in transitional communities are asynchronously invaded by tropical species, but with congruent invasion schedules for functional groups across the two hemispheres. These differences in functional group tr

SUBMITTER: Miller MGR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10110547 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature