[Coral-List] Session on fish / fisheries and reef structure at ICRS2020

[Alastair Harborne]

Hi all,
If you are interested in the implications of losing three-dimensional structure on reef fish and fisheries (or replacing it through reef restoration and artificial reefs), please consider submitting an abstract to our session at ICRS 2020. It's in Theme 11 http://www.icrs2020.de/program/session-program/#c243.
Cheers
Alastair

***
What are the biological and fishery consequences of losing coral reef complexity that is critical for fish populations?

Alastair Harborne, Mary Donovan, David Kochan, Matthew Mitchell, Alice Rogers

The multiple threats degrading coral reefs are widely recognized as reducing coral cover, and consequently reef complexity and structure. Complexity is critical for maintaining diverse and abundant fish assemblages because of the need of many species to use reef structure for nesting, foraging, spawning, refuge from predators, and to maintain themselves in high-flow environments. Consequently, reef structure underpins the key ecosystem service of protein provision, and loss of complexity is having profound impacts on fish and fisheries. However, despite the well-established links between fish and structure, many questions remain including how structure mediates reef food webs (e.g. consumptive and non-consumptive predator-prey interactions and trophic structure), affects inter- and intra-specific competition, changes fish behavior and physiology, and impacts fish catches and profits. For example, there are few data on the multiple impacts of reduced reef complexity on prey species (e.g. earlier detection of predators) and predators (e.g. altered hunting efficiency), and the implications for their demographics and ultimately catchable biomass. Answering such questions has recently benefited from new ways to explore and quantify reef structure at multiple scales, particularly through three-dimensional digital reef reconstructions that can now be undertaken with simple cameras and off-the-shelf software. This session aims to bring together an interdisciplinary series of talks and posters that address any aspect of the relationship between reef structure and fish and fisheries. We welcome submissions on any topic related to fish and reef complexity, including studies that address characterizing reef complexity, consider the effects on fish ecology, demography, behavior, or physiology, examine the impacts of reduced reef structure on fisheries and human food security, and suggest conservation initiatives including reef restoration and artificial reefs to increase structure.

__

Dr Alastair Harborne
Assistant Professor
Tropical Fish Ecology Lab
http://tropicalfishecologylab.com<http://tropicalfishecologylab.com/>

Department of Biological Sciences - Marine Sciences Program
Florida International University,
MSB 352, Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151 Street,
North Miami, Florida 33181, USA

Tel: +1-305-919-4232
email: aharborn at fiu.edu<mailto:aharborn at fiu.edu>
Skype name: al_harborne
Twitter: @alharborne
Website: https://marine.fiu.edu/faculty/alastair-harborne/

Ecology Editor, Coral Reefs: http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/ecology/journal/338
ResearcherID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-6155-2013