Fish assemblage structure, diversity and controls on reefs of South Kona, Hawai'i Island.

ABSTRACT: The structure of coral-reef fish assemblages is affected by natural and anthropogenic factors such as the architectural complexity, benthic composition and physical characteristics of the habitat, fishing pressure and land-based input. The coral-reef ecosystem of South Kona, Hawai'i hosts diverse reef habitats with a relatively high live coral cover, but a limited number of studies have focused on the ecosystem or the fish assemblages. Here, we surveyed fish assemblages at 119 sites in South Kona in 2020 and 2021 and investigated the associations between the fish assemblages and environmental variables obtained from published Geographic Information System (GIS) layers, including depth, latitude, reef rugosity, housing density and benthic cover. The fish assemblages in South Kona were domin

SUBMITTER: Fukunaga A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10325036 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature