Data from: Similar levels of trophic and functional diversity within damselfish assemblages across Indo–Pacific coral reefs

1. Understanding the forces that influence the dynamics of communities is
a key challenge to undertake in changing environments. Despite recent
advances in coral reef community ecology, a more comprehensive knowledge
about processes (niche related–traits and phylogenies) driving the
composition of reef fish community is needed. 2. Here, we conducted a
quantitative comparison of these processes in damselfish assemblages that
belong to three distinct Indo–Pacific coral reefs differing in taxonomic
composition, morphology and degree of human disturbance. 3. We compiled a
dataset of eight categorical variables to estimate functional diversity of
damselfish assemblages and a second one of stable isotope ratios to
evaluate isotopic diversity, a proxy of trophic diversity. Both datasets
represent the eco–functional diversity and provide insight into
niche–related traits. Indices were then computed to grasp complementary
facets of this diversity: the size of multidimensional space (richness),
the partitioning of niches (divergence) and the regularity in the
distribution of niches (evenness) within each space. We also tested
whether functional and trophic traits displayed some evolutionary niche
conservatism. 4. We found that functional richness was influenced by the
number of species and functional entities (FEs, unique combination of
trait values), while functional spaces mainly overlapped. Functional
divergence and evenness indices were similarly high. For trophic
diversity, the isotopic richness remained equivalent, while the two other
indices were of high values and did not significantly differ. Both
functional and trophic traits did not display any phylogenetic
conservatism. 5. We demonstrated consistent levels of eco–functional
diversity in Indo–Pacific coral reef damselfishes. Each assemblage hosted
species whose niches were highly differentiated and evenly distributed in
eco-functional spaces of similar sizes, albeit the size of functional
space varied with the species richness. Assemblages also tended to share
similar functional attributes. The inconsistent phylogenetic structures of
eco–functional traits and the similarity in diversity indices suggest that
the assemblage composition of damselfishes is mainly driven by
niche-related processes rather than by phylogenetic relatedness. Our work
helps to determine which mechanisms shape coral reef fish biodiversity and
more particularly assemblages issued from replicated events of ecological
radiation.