The influence of tourism-based provisioning on fish behavior and benthic composition.

ABSTRACT: Distribution of non-natural food (provisioning) to attract fish, though popular in coral reef tourism, has often been discouraged due to its assumed adverse effects on fish health and behavior. However, the effects of provisioning on community structure, anti-predator, and foraging behavior of teleost fishes, as well as their potential to indirectly affect benthic organisms, are not yet clear. Here, we compared fish composition, wariness, foraging behavior of herbivorous fishes, and the benthic cover between provisioned and control sites. We found significant differences in fish abundance, species number, and composition at some locations, but not all. Although most provisioned herbivorous fish did not reduce their biting rates of benthic algae, provisioned sites still had higher coverage

SUBMITTER: Wen CKC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6509303 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature