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Dryad

Data from: Functional diversity shapes the stability of reef fish biomass under global change

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Apr 15, 2025 version files 94.63 KB

Abstract

Understanding how environmental and human pressures impact the temporal stability of fish community biomass on shallow reefs is essential for effective conservation and management. These pressures influence community stability directly, by affecting species stability and asynchrony in species’ fluctuations. However, their effects may also indirectly depend on the functional traits of the species composing the community, which remains poorly understood. Here, we examine both direct and indirect, trait-mediated effects of environmental variability and human impacts on species biomass stability and asynchrony in 215 Australian shallow reefs. These communities span a 10-degree sea surface temperature (SST) gradient and have been monitored over 14 years. Our results indicate higher asynchrony in tropical reefs due to higher trait diversity and trait redundancy and higher species stability in temperate communities due to higher mean trophic level. Human impacts, through its negative effects on species stability and trait diversity, was the main destabilising factor of fish community biomass. Temporal change in SST destabilised species biomass while increasing mean trophic level in fish communities. Overall, our findings show that a comprehensive analysis of the multiple facets of functional diversity is crucial to better understand the long-term stability of marine ecosystems under global change.