Dryad
Published April 16, 2020 | Version v1
Dataset Open

Data from: Collective aggressiveness of an ecosystem engineer is associated with coral recovery

Authors/Creators

  • 1. McMaster University
  • 2. University of Florida
  • 3. University of California, Santa Barbara
  • 4. University of California, Santa Cruz
  • 5. Rice University

Description

The ecological impacts of animal groups may be different and predictable depending on their collective behavior. Farmerfish (Stegastes nigricans) live in social groups and collectively defend gardens of palatable algae. These gardens also serve as settlement and nursery habitats for corals because farmerfish mob corallivores that attempt to forage on corals within their gardens. We detected large among-colony differences in farmerfish collective aggression towards intruder fish that persist across years. We further found that the territories of aggressive groups and territories containing larger farmerfish provided greater protection to corals than non-aggressive groups: territories of aggressive groups naturally harbored more branching corals than non-aggressive groups, and experimentally outplanted branching corals experienced 80% less skeletal loss and grew larger over 25 weeks in aggressive territories and in territories guarded by larger fish. These findings hint that factors that increase farmerfish group aggressiveness (e.g., higher temperatures) could enhance the protective value of their territories for the replenishment of coral populations.

Notes

Stegastes behavior and coral performance
JMP_Pink Roof bommies for Stegastes behavior.xlsx

Files

Files (109.8 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:2bc6b293b8f531b203800493fe7e92ed
36.4 kB Download
md5:85bf7becc900ef6502aca7bafeeea7de
12.6 kB Download
md5:bd83280d9ee7157a9ef5246ecdf9e171
16.9 kB Download
md5:ed5f06ecef64a62c8a6d9fd1b0c2574e
43.9 kB Download

Additional details

Related works

Is cited by
10.1093/beheco/ary092 (DOI)