Larval dispersal and movement patterns of coral reef fishes, and implications for marine reserve network design

• Published in: Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 2015-11, Vol.90 (4), p.1215-1247
• Main Authors: Green, Alison L., Maypa, Aileen P., Almany, Glenn R., Rhodes, Kevin L., Weeks, Rebecca, Abesamis, Rene A., Gleason, Mary G., Mumby, Peter J., White, Alan T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal biology; Animal Distribution; Animals; Biodiversity; connectivity; Conservation biology; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; Coral Reefs; Dispersal; Ecology, environment; Fish; Fisheries management; Fishes - growth & development; Fishes - physiology; Larva - physiology; larval; Life Sciences; marine; movement; reserve; tropical; Vertebrate Zoology
• ISSN: 1464-7931; 1469-185X
• DOI: 10.1111/brv.12155

ABSTRACT Well‐designed and effectively managed networks of marine reserves can be effective tools for both fisheries management and biodiversity conservation. Connectivity, the demographic linking of local populations through the dispersal of individuals as larvae, juveniles or adults, is a key ecological factor to consider in marine reserve design, since it has important implications for the persistence of metapopulations and their recovery from disturbance. For marine reserves to protect biodiversity and enhance populations of species in fished areas, they must be able to sustain focal species (particularly fishery species) within their boundaries, and be spaced such that they can function as mutually replenishing networks whilst providing recruitment subsidies to fished areas. Thus the configuration (size, spacing and location) of individual reserves within a network should be informed by larval dispersal and movement patterns of the species for which protection is required. In the past, empirical data regarding larval dispersal and movement patterns of adults and juveniles of many tropical marine species have been unavailable or inaccessible to practitioners responsible for marine reserve design. Recent empirical studies using new technologies have also provided fresh insights into movement patterns of many species and redefined our understanding of connectivity among populations through larval dispersal. Our review of movement patterns of 34 families (210 species) of coral reef fishes demonstrates that movement patterns (home ranges, ontogenetic shifts and spawning migrations) vary among and within species, and are influenced by a range of factors (e.g. size, sex, behaviour, density, habitat characteristics, season, tide and time of day). Some species move