How can we leverage fish behavior to facilitate habitat restoration success?
Coral restoration can alter fish visitation patterns and community composition in the restored area, and certain fish and invertebrates can be beneficial to coral growth and survival. However, it’s yet unclear how the landscape design of coral restoration may differentially impact visitation and community patterns.
We are investigating if the landscape design of coral outplants can be optimized to attract visitation and promote foraging from beneficial coral-associated fishes, while limiting the visitation by fishes detrimental to coral growth and survival. Specifically, we are looking into how patch density, habitat connectivity, and matrix composition influence taxon-specific visitation and foraging patterns near restoration outplant units of Acropora cervicornis in Curacao.
How do social and habitat contexts influence movement and foraging decisions in reef fishes?
Herbivorous reef fishes play a critical role in maintaining healthy coral-dominated reef states, but we still know relatively little about how they incorporate social and environmental information when deciding when, where, and how much to forage. We know that herbivores tend to prefer foraging near refuge habitat and forage for longer periods of time when in social groups, likely reflecting responses to perceived predation risk. However, we also know that some species, particularly parrotfishes, are highly territorial in complex reef slope habitats. The relative importance of agonistic and facilitative information from nearby individuals is an open question. Several of our projects aim to determine how social and habitat contexts interact to affect movement and foraging decisions in herbivorous reef fishes so that we can better understand their functional roles on coral reefs. In parrotfishes, we are also investigating how territoriality shapes foraging patterns and how those foraging patterns change through time.
A queen parrotfish (Scarus vetula; top left) and blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus; top right) foraging solo on the reef slope. Social groups foraging in less complex reef flat habitat (Acanthurus sp.; bottom left) and more complex reef slope habitat (Acanthurus coeruleus and Scarus vetula; bottom right) foraging in less complex reef flat habitats. Photos taken in Curacao and Bonaire (J. Manning).
Can we unlock how diverse networks of wildlife function in nature?
We have two research projects in the lab that are focused on understanding the behavior of four-eye butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus). First, we are investigating how behavior differs within monogamous pairs and the role habitat context plays in shaping these differences. Specifically, we want to know if there are differences in foraging and vigilance among individuals in these pairs, and how body size and habitat complexity influence these patterns. The second project is focused on investigating foraging preferences in these fish. Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean and prior work has highlighted the potential role that butterflyfish may play in contributing to the spread of disease. We want to know if butterflyfish are preferentially foraging on diseased coral tissue relative to healthy coral tissue and if they are targeting certain species.
A pair of four-eye butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus) swimming over a Diploria labyrinthiformis (left) and another individual biting the disease boundary of a Colpophyllia natans infected with stony coral tissue loss disease. Photos taken in Bonaire (J. Manning).
Gil Lab 