1. Home
  2. Data Publication
Data from: Exploring the nature of ecological specialization in a coral reef fish community: morphology, diet, and foraging microhabitat use

Raw data containing morphological, dietary, foraging microhabitat utilization and microhabitat abundance data in separate worksheets.

Abstract [Related Publication]: Patterns of ecological specialization offer invaluable information about ecosystems. Yet, specialization is rarely quantified across several ecological niche axes and variables beyond the link between morphological and dietary specialization have received little attention. Here, we provide a quantitative evaluation of ecological specialization in a coral reef fish assemblage (f. Acanthuridae) along one fundamental and two realized niche axes. Specifically, we examined ecological specialization in 10 surgeonfish species with regards to morphology and two realized niche axes associated with diet and foraging microhabitat utilization using a recently developed multidimensional framework. We then investigated the potential relationships between morphological and behavioural specialization. These relationships differed markedly from the traditional ecomorphological paradigm. While morphological specialization showed no relationship with dietary specialization, it exhibited a strong relationship with foraging microhabitat specialization. However, this relationship was inverted: species with specialized morphologies were microhabitat generalists, whereas generalized morphotypes were microhabitat specialists. Interestingly, this mirrors relationships found in plant–pollinator communities and may also be applicable to other ecosystems, highlighting the potential importance of including niche axes beyond dietary specialization into ecomorphological frameworks. On coral reefs, it appears that morphotypes commonly perceived as most generalized may, in fact, be specialized in exploiting flat and easily accessible microhabitats.

Extract [Materials and Methods]: All fieldwork and sampling was conducted on reefs around Lizard Island, a mid-shelf island in the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia (14°40′08′’S 145°27′34′′E). Data were collected from adult individuals of 10 surgeonfish species in four genera, Acanthurus blochii, A. lineatus, A. nigricauda, A. nigrofuscus, A. olivaceus, Ctenochaetus striatus, Naso lituratus, N. unicornis, Zebrasoma scopas and Z. velifer. These species represent 40% of the surgeonfish species recorded from the GBR and encompass all numerically abundant species at the study site.

The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

 
- Start
    Data Record Details
    Data record related to this publication Data from: Exploring the nature of ecological specialization in a coral reef fish community: morphology, diet, and foraging microhabitat use
    Data Publication title Data from: Exploring the nature of ecological specialization in a coral reef fish community: morphology, diet, and foraging microhabitat use
  • Description

    Raw data containing morphological, dietary, foraging microhabitat utilization and microhabitat abundance data in separate worksheets.

    Abstract [Related Publication]: Patterns of ecological specialization offer invaluable information about ecosystems. Yet, specialization is rarely quantified across several ecological niche axes and variables beyond the link between morphological and dietary specialization have received little attention. Here, we provide a quantitative evaluation of ecological specialization in a coral reef fish assemblage (f. Acanthuridae) along one fundamental and two realized niche axes. Specifically, we examined ecological specialization in 10 surgeonfish species with regards to morphology and two realized niche axes associated with diet and foraging microhabitat utilization using a recently developed multidimensional framework. We then investigated the potential relationships between morphological and behavioural specialization. These relationships differed markedly from the traditional ecomorphological paradigm. While morphological specialization showed no relationship with dietary specialization, it exhibited a strong relationship with foraging microhabitat specialization. However, this relationship was inverted: species with specialized morphologies were microhabitat generalists, whereas generalized morphotypes were microhabitat specialists. Interestingly, this mirrors relationships found in plant–pollinator communities and may also be applicable to other ecosystems, highlighting the potential importance of including niche axes beyond dietary specialization into ecomorphological frameworks. On coral reefs, it appears that morphotypes commonly perceived as most generalized may, in fact, be specialized in exploiting flat and easily accessible microhabitats.

    Extract [Materials and Methods]: All fieldwork and sampling was conducted on reefs around Lizard Island, a mid-shelf island in the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia (14°40′08′’S 145°27′34′′E). Data were collected from adult individuals of 10 surgeonfish species in four genera, Acanthurus blochii, A. lineatus, A. nigricauda, A. nigrofuscus, A. olivaceus, Ctenochaetus striatus, Naso lituratus, N. unicornis, Zebrasoma scopas and Z. velifer. These species represent 40% of the surgeonfish species recorded from the GBR and encompass all numerically abundant species at the study site.

    The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

     

    •
  • Other Descriptors
    • Descriptor

      This dataset is available from Dryad in MS Excel (.xlsx) format. Dryad data package: Brandl SJ, Robbins WD, Bellwood DR (2015) Data from: Exploring the nature of ecological specialization in a coral reef fish community: morphology, diet, and foraging microhabitat use. Dryad Digital Repository. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.634n8

      •
      Descriptor type Note
    • Data type dataset
  • Keywords
    • herbivory
    • ecological niche
    • ecomorphology
    • plant-pollinator community
    • surgeonfishes
    • coral reef
    • Acanthuridae
    • ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
  • Funding source
  • Research grant(s)/Scheme name(s)
    • Research themes
    Tropical Ecosystems, Conservation and Climate Change
    FoR Codes (*)
    SEO Codes
- Specify coverage
    Specify spatial or temporal setting of the data
    Temporal (time) coverage
  • Start Date
  • End Date
    • Time Period
    Spatial (location) coverage
  • Locations
    • Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
- Data
    Data Locations

    Type Location Notes
    URL https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.634n8
    The Data Manager is: Simon Brandl
    College or Centre
    Access conditions Open: free access under license
  • Alternative access conditions
    • Data record size 1 file: 131.9 KB
- Related resources
  • Related publications
      Name Brandl, Simon J., Robbins, William D., and Bellwood, David R. (2015) Exploring the nature of ecological specialization in a coral reef fish community: morphology, diet and foraging microhabitat use. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 282 (1815). pp. 1-10.
    • URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1147
    • Notes Open Access
  • Related websites
      Name
    • URL
    • Notes
  • Related metadata (including standards, codebooks, vocabularies, thesauri, ontologies)
  • Related data
      Name
    • URL
    • Notes
  • Related services
      Name
    • URL
    • Notes
- License
- Citation
    Citation Brandl, Simon; Robbins, William; Bellwood, David (2015): Data from: Exploring the nature of ecological specialization in a coral reef fish community: morphology, diet, and foraging microhabitat use. James Cook University. https://research.jcu.edu.au/data/published/be2b99282aa6caf81fb8c21ee88f0f80