The fading of fear effects due to coral degradation is modulated by community composition

An increasing number of coral reefs throughout the world have become degraded as a result of climate change. This degradation has resulted in a significant decline in local biodiversity. Studies have shown that some fishes (non-responders) within these altered habitats are not able to adequately access olfactory cues, specifically chemical alarm cues that are crucial in mediating predation risk.
We propose that the inability to access this crucial information is a potential mechanism for increased mortality of these species under natural conditions. However, we posit that the presence of certain key species (responders that are unaffected by degradation) may buffer the handicap of non-responders by providing an alternate source of information.
To explore this hypothesis, we investigated if a high ratio of responders to non-responders could mitigate the impact of information loss for the affected species. Using mesocosms, we manipulated the ratio of two damselfish species, Pomacen...