Mellin C, Mouillot D, Kulbicki M, McClanahan T R, Vigliola L, Bradshaw C J A, Brainard R E, Chabanet P, Edgar G J, Fordham D A, Friedlander A M, Parravicini V, Sequeira A M M, Stuart-Smith R D, Wantiez L, Caley M J
Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB No. 3, Townsville MC, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.
The Environment Institute and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Nat Commun. 2016 Feb 3;7:10491. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10491.
Coral reefs are among the most species-rich and threatened ecosystems on Earth, yet the extent to which human stressors determine species occurrences, compared with biogeography or environmental conditions, remains largely unknown. With ever-increasing human-mediated disturbances on these ecosystems, an important question is not only how many species can inhabit local communities, but also which biological traits determine species that can persist (or not) above particular disturbance thresholds. Here we show that human pressure and seasonal climate variability are disproportionately and negatively associated with the occurrence of large-bodied and geographically small-ranging fishes within local coral reef communities. These species are 67% less likely to occur where human impact and temperature seasonality exceed critical thresholds, such as in the marine biodiversity hotspot: the Coral Triangle. Our results identify the most sensitive species and critical thresholds of human and climatic stressors, providing opportunity for targeted conservation intervention to prevent local extinctions.
珊瑚礁是地球上物种最为丰富且受到威胁的生态系统之一，然而与生物地理学或环境条件相比，人类压力源在多大程度上决定物种的出现情况，在很大程度上仍不为人知。随着人类对这些生态系统的干扰日益增加，一个重要的问题不仅是有多少物种能够栖息在当地群落中，而且还有哪些生物学特征决定了能够在特定干扰阈值之上持续生存（或不能生存）的物种。在这里，我们表明，人类压力和季节性气候变率与当地珊瑚礁群落中体型较大且地理分布范围较小的鱼类的出现不成比例且呈负相关。在人类影响和温度季节性超过临界阈值的地方，例如在海洋生物多样性热点地区：珊瑚三角区，这些物种出现的可能性要低67%。我们的研究结果确定了最敏感的物种以及人类和气候压力源的临界阈值，为有针对性的保护干预提供了机会，以防止当地物种灭绝。
