Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Rapid resource depletion on coral reefs disrupts competitor recognition processes among butterflyfish species
AU - Keith, S. A.
AU - Hobbs, J-P.A.
AU - Boström-Einarsson, L.
AU - Hartley, I. R.
AU - Sanders, N. J.
PY - 2023/1/11
Y1 - 2023/1/11
N2 - Avoiding costly fights can help conserve energy needed to survive rapid environmental change. Competitor recognition processes help resolve contests without escalating to attack, yet we have limited understanding of how they are affected by resource depletion and potential effects on species coexistence. Using a mass coral mortality event as a natural experiment and 3770 field observations of butterflyfish encounters, we test how rapid resource depletion could disrupt recognition processes in butterflyfishes. Following resource loss, heterospecifics approached each other more closely before initiating aggression, fewer contests were resolved by signalling, and the energy invested in attacks was greater. By contrast, behaviour towards conspecifics did not change. As predicted by theory, conspecifics approached one another more closely and were more consistent in attack intensity yet, contrary to expectations, resolution of contests via signalling was more common among heterospecifics. Phylogenetic relatedness or body size did not predict these outcomes. Our results suggest that competitor recognition processes for heterospecifics became less accurate after mass coral mortality, which we hypothesize is due to altered resource overlaps following dietary shifts. Our work implies that competitor recognition is common among heterospecifics, and disruption of this system could lead to suboptimal decision-making, exacerbating sublethal impacts of food scarcity.
AB - Avoiding costly fights can help conserve energy needed to survive rapid environmental change. Competitor recognition processes help resolve contests without escalating to attack, yet we have limited understanding of how they are affected by resource depletion and potential effects on species coexistence. Using a mass coral mortality event as a natural experiment and 3770 field observations of butterflyfish encounters, we test how rapid resource depletion could disrupt recognition processes in butterflyfishes. Following resource loss, heterospecifics approached each other more closely before initiating aggression, fewer contests were resolved by signalling, and the energy invested in attacks was greater. By contrast, behaviour towards conspecifics did not change. As predicted by theory, conspecifics approached one another more closely and were more consistent in attack intensity yet, contrary to expectations, resolution of contests via signalling was more common among heterospecifics. Phylogenetic relatedness or body size did not predict these outcomes. Our results suggest that competitor recognition processes for heterospecifics became less accurate after mass coral mortality, which we hypothesize is due to altered resource overlaps following dietary shifts. Our work implies that competitor recognition is common among heterospecifics, and disruption of this system could lead to suboptimal decision-making, exacerbating sublethal impacts of food scarcity.
KW - Ecology
KW - Research articles
KW - contest
KW - signalling
KW - Chaetodon
KW - coral bleaching
KW - environmental change
KW - behavioural macroecology
U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2022.2158
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2022.2158
M3 - Journal article
VL - 290
JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
SN - 0962-8452
IS - 1990
M1 - 20222158
ER -