Asynchronous population trends stabilize mesopredatory coral reef fish
communities in the face of global change.
Abstract
Biodiversity drives stability in communities, allowing it to withstand
environmental fluctuations without changes in aggregate properties like
total abundance or biomass. We investigated biodiversity’s influence on
two crucial population-level mechanisms governing abundance stability in
mesopredatory coral reef fishes: ‘community asynchrony,’ where species
populations fluctuate inversely over time, and ‘dominant stability,’
where highly abundant species with significant community contributions
display minimal population fluctuations. Analyzing data from 83 reef
fish communities across the Indian and Pacific Oceans over a decade, we
found that community asynchrony, rather than dominant stability,
primarily predicts community stability. Functional diversity, not
taxonomic diversity, regulates this stability, emphasizing the role of
niche differences in stabilizing communities. We highlight that
community attributes that promote asynchronous population fluctuations,
enhancing response diversity and tempering strong trophic interactions
are vital for stabilizing mesopredatory reef fish communities in the
face of global change.