Trends in Ecology & Evolution
Volume 17, Issue 9, 1 September 2002, Pages 422-428
Journal home page for Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Review
Are populations of coral reef fish open or closed?

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(02)02584-3Get rights and content

Abstract

Dispersal plays a crucial role in several aspects of the biology, management and conservation of many species, including coral reef fish and other demersal marine organisms with pelagic larval stages. To know the origin of propagules that replenish benthic populations is a major challenge, yet, whereas earlier studies emphasized the broadly extensive dispersal of reef fish larvae, recent publications have emphasized the extent to which these larvae succeed in returning to their natal populations. Here, we critically analyse the evidence concerning the dispersal of coral reef fish, and conclude that: (1) at present, the extent to which reef fish populations are open or closed must be regarded as unknown; and (2) further improved research is likely to confirm that larval dispersal structures populations into more or less open populations depending on the particular attributes of species, physical oceanographical systems in which they occur and the scale at which the question is posed.

Section snippets

Scales of dispersal

The description of any system depends largely on the chosen dimensions of space and time. At biogeographical spatial scales, all populations are closed, whereas at meter scales, any population of organisms with pelagic larvae is likely to be open. Whereas most of the ecological investigations of fish on coral reefs were done at single local sites in the 1970s, it is now common to do research at sets of sites 10s of km apart 18., 19.; some studies are undertaken on scales of 100s of km or more

Tagging studies

By using tags to differentiate larvae from different populations, two studies have provided quantitative evidence for self-recruitment in coral reef fish. Over three months, Jones et al. [18] used tetracycline to tag ∼10 million embryos of the damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis around Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Analysing the otoliths of 5000 recaptured late-stage larvae, they found 15 tagged larvae and calculated that between 15% and 60% of the recruits to that island were

Conclusion and future directions

Among reef fish ecologists, the perception of reef fish populations as broadly open systems has shifted to a currently widespread emphasis on the retention of larvae at natal reefs. This dramatic shift has been made with important but as yet limited new evidence. Our review of evidence concerning reef fish dispersal shows that these limitations are serious and that, at present, the answer to whether reef fish populations are open or closed must be regarded as unknown. We can go further and

Acknowledgements

We thank Stuart Ludsin, Jacob Kritzer, Sacha Lozano, Fernando Zapata, Paul Chittaro, Serge Planes, Daniel Heath and two anonymous reviewers for discussion and comments. Financial support was provided by NSERC grants 154284 and CRO 227965 to P.F.S. and from Foundation Banco de la Republica-Colombia and Colciencias to C.M. This review is dedicated to Chris Wysiekierski.

Glossary

Advection:
the passive dispersal of larvae away from a natal site due to entrainment in a moving parcel of water caused by a physical process such as a current, or an upwelling.
Closed population:
a population that receives its recruitment primarily as larvae produced from spawning activity by its own residents.
Closure:
a population achieves closure when the life cycles of its members are such that offspring remain within it, or return to become members of the reproductive unit.
Connectivity:
the

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