The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence.

ABSTRACT: When Caribbean long-spined sea urchins, Diadema antillarum, are stable at high population densities, their grazing facilitates scleractinian coral dominance. Today, populations remain suppressed after a mass mortality in 1983-1984 caused a loss of their ecosystem functions, and led to widespread declines in ecosystem health. This study provides three lines of evidence to support the assertion that a lack of habitat complexity on Caribbean coral reefs contributes to their recovery failure. Firstly, we extracted fractal dimension (D) measurements, used as a proxy for habitat complexity, from 3D models to demonstrate that urchins preferentially inhabit areas of above average complexity at ecologically relevant spatial scales. Secondly, controlled behaviour experiments showed that an energetic

SUBMITTER: Bodmer MDV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8087687 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature