Day–Night Patterns in Natural and Artificial Patch Reef Fish Assemblages of The Bahamas

Martha J. Zapata; Lauren A. Yeager; Craig A. Layman

Day–Night Patterns in Natural and Artificial Patch Reef Fish Assemblages of The Bahamas

Martha J. Zapata¹^,2,*, Lauren A. Yeager^1,3, and Craig A. Layman^1,4

¹Marine Sciences Program, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 3000 NE 151st Street, North Miami, FL 33181.²Current address - School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210. ³Current address - Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
⁴Current address - Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27659. *Corresponding author.

Caribbean Naturalist, No. 18 (2014)

Abstract
Back-reef seascapes encompass a heterogeneous mosaic of patch reef and seagrass habitats, often linked by reef-associated species that forage in soft-bottom habitats at night. These foraging patterns contribute to turnover between day and night fish assemblages; yet the degree of this turnover is difficult to quantify with standard visual survey methodologies without affecting fish behavior. In this study, we evaluated reef fish communities within natural and artificial reefs around Abaco Island, Bahamas. We compared fish densities across midday, dusk, and night during one-hour periods using fixed-area, time-lapse photography illuminated by infrared lighting. Fish assemblages associated with both natural and artificial habitats exhibited a significant diel shift typified by a decline in total fish density at night. Cross-habitat movement by nocturnal species, especially those of Haemulidae, is a central driver of this turnover. Although underestimating fish species richness on natural reefs, the time-lapse infrared photography provided comparable estimates of species richness to roving diver surveys on the smaller artificial reefs, representing a non-invasive approach to study temporal dynamics in shallow-reef fish communities.

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