Outlasting the Heat: Collapse of Herbivorous Fish Control of Invasive Algae During Marine Heatwaves.

ABSTRACT: Marine heatwaves (MHWs), coral bleaching, and chronic local stressors such as eutrophication are accelerating regime shifts from coral- to algae-dominated reefs, increasingly favoring the proliferation of invasive, fast-growing, and often more grazing-resistant turf and macroalgae. A central tenet of global reef management strategies is that herbivorous fishes can sustain critical top-down control of algal proliferation as oceans warm. Here, we challenge this tenet by experimentally evaluating, under controlled laboratory conditions, whether herbivorous coral reef fishes across three key functional groups-browser (Naso lituratus), grazer (Acanthurus triostegus), and scraper (Chlorurus spilurus)-can maintain effective algal control across present-day (24.0°C-27.5°C) temperatures and into pr

SUBMITTER: Brijs J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12365732 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature