In situ effects of human disturbances on coral reef-fish assemblage structure: temporary and persisting changes are reflected as a result of intensive tourism

被引:34
作者
Albuquerque, Tiago [1 ,2 ,3 ]
Loiola, Miguel [2 ,3 ,4 ]
Nunes, Jose de Anchieta C. C. [3 ,4 ,5 ]
Reis-Filho, Jose Amorim [3 ,4 ,5 ]
Sampaio, Claudio L. S. [6 ]
Leduc, Antoine O. H. C. [4 ]
机构
[1] Univ Fed Bahia, Inst Geociencias, Programa Pos Grad Geol Costeira & Sedimentar, BR-40170115 Salvador, BA, Brazil
[2] Univ Fed Bahia, Inst Geociencias, Lab Estudos Recifes Corais & Mudancas Globais REC, BR-40170115 Salvador, BA, Brazil
[3] Inst Educ & Ciencias Utilidades Socioambientais E, BR-41940250 Salvador, BA, Brazil
[4] Univ Fed Bahia, Programa Pos Grad Ecol & Biomonitoramento, Inst Biol, BR-40170115 Salvador, BA, Brazil
[5] Univ Fed Bahia, Inst Biol, LEB, BR-40170115 Salvador, BA, Brazil
[6] Univ Fed Alagoas, Dept Engn Pesca, BR-57200000 Penedo, Alagoas, Brazil
关键词
Bahia; behaviour; Boipeba island; Brazil; conservation; snorkelling; BEHAVIORAL-RESPONSES; PREDATION; IMPACTS; CONSEQUENCES; HABITUATION; SIZE;
D O I
10.1071/MF13185
中图分类号
S9 [水产、渔业];
学科分类号
0908 ;
摘要
Non-lethal human disturbances are often drivers of change in animal population and community structure. To gauge their severity, short-term behaviour (e.g. avoidance and habituation) has been argued to be a sensitive measure. However, many of these behavioural changes may occur only if disturbance-free habitat is readily accessible. In coral-reef fish, we tested whether human disturbances from intensive (i.e. loud music, swimming, snorkelling, splashing and fish feeding by numerous visitors) tourist visitations resulted in assemblage structure shifts led by short-term behaviour. We monitored fish assemblage before, during and after tourist visitations to monitor changes associated with behaviour. Additionally, we monitored two adjacent reefs not visited by tourists because of difficult approach by boat. We posited that if short-term benefits of relocating to disturbance-free habitat outweigh the costs of tolerating disturbances, fish assemblage structure should shift along with tourist visitation levels. By contrast, if sensitive species are unable or unwilling to relocate, we predicted greater levels of assemblage heterogeneity between the visited and control reefs. Our results showed that in situ human visitations led to significant shifts in assemblage structure, resulting from short-term behavioural changes. Additionally, we showed significant between-reefs differences, whereby control reefs were characterised by higher species richness, larger fish sizes and variations in relative trophic guild prevalence. Our results suggest that short-term relocations to adjacent disturbance-free reefs may not mitigate the effects of human disturbances.
引用
收藏
页码:23 / 32
页数:10
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