The role of fishes as food: A functional perspective on predator-prey interactions

Every animal dies. In nature, mortality usually occurs due to predation by other animals. One of the fundamental consequences of mortality is the transfer of energy and nutrients from one organism (prey) to another (predator). On coral reefs, these key interactions and processes, that are essential for ecosystem functioning, are primarily mediated by fishes; up to 53% of fishes on coral reefs can be regarded as piscivorous.

To date, piscivory on coral reefs has been primarily studied with regards to the species piscivores feed on, and how piscivores control populations. Consequently, understanding prey selectivity by piscivorous fishes has been a major goal. However, prey functional traits may also be important in understanding these ‘energy transactions’, especially in complex ecosystems such as coral reefs.

Our goal, therefore, was to quantify - at a community level - functional traits of prey that have been shown to influence predator-prey interactions. We found that, on averag...