Reef-fish community structure and dynamics: an interaction between local and larger-scale processes?

Abstract

This study investigates variation in predator abundance and species richness at a large spatial scale and associated community-wide patterns of species richness and abundance of tropical fishes on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Results suggest that one ecological process that varies between distant locations, in this case predation estimated by predation abundance, may override the effects of other ecological processes, in this case recruitment, in determining local patterns of coexistence. -from Author