Explaining island‐wide geographical patterns of Caribbean fish diversity: A multi‐scale seascape ecology approach Marine Ecology

Geographical patterning of fish diversity across coral reef seascapes is driven by many interacting environmental variables operating at multiple spatial scales. Identifying suites of variables that explain spatial patterns of fish diversity is central to ecology and informs prioritization in marine conservation, particularly where protection of the highest biodiversity coral reefs is a primary goal. However, the relative importance of conventional within-patch variables versus the spatial patterning of the surrounding seascape is still unclear in the ecology of fishes on coral reefs.