Tropicalization shifts herbivore pressure from seagrass to rocky reef communities.

ABSTRACT: Climate-driven species redistributions are reshuffling the composition of marine ecosystems. How these changes alter ecosystem functions, however, remains poorly understood. Here we examine how impacts of herbivory change across a gradient of tropicalization in the Mediterranean Sea, which includes a steep climatic gradient and marked changes in plant nutritional quality and fish herbivore composition. We quantified individual feeding rates and behaviour of 755 fishes of the native Sarpa salpa, and non-native Siganus rivulatus and Siganus luridus. We measured herbivore and benthic assemblage composition across 20 sites along the gradient, spanning 30° of longitude and 8° of latitude. We coupled patterns in behaviour and composition with temperature measurements and nut

SUBMITTER: Santana-Garcon J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9832549 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature