Territoriality drives patterns of fixed space use in Caribbean parrotfishes

Animals often occupy home ranges where they conduct daily activities. In many parrotfishes, large terminal phase (TP) males defend their diurnal (i.e., daytime) home ranges as intraspecific territories occupied by harems of initial phase (IP) females. However, we know relatively little about the exclusivity and spatial stability of these territories. We investigated diurnal home range behavior in several TPs and IPs of five common Caribbean parrotfish species on the fringing coral reefs of Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. We computed parrotfish home ranges to investigate differences in space use and then quantified spatial overlap of home ranges between spatially co-occurring TPs to investigate exclusivity. We also quantified spatial overlap of home ranges estimated from repeat tracks of a few TPs to investigate their spatial stability. We then discussed these results in the context of parrotfish social behavior. Home range sizes differed significantly among species. Spatial overlap betw..., Study species and sites We conducted our research on Scarus iseri, Scarus taeniopterus, Scarus vetula, Sparisoma aurofrenatum, and Sparisoma viride at five fringing coral reefs along the leeward coast of Bonaire during January (Winter) and May-July (Summer) 2019: Angel City (12.10305º, -68.28852º), Aquarius (12.09824º, -68.28624º), Bachelor’s Beach (12.12605º, -68.28819º), Invisibles (12.07805º, -68.28175º), and The Lake (12.10618º, -68.29079º). The fringing coral reefs of Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands have remained resilient despite multiple disturbances, and boast higher coral cover than most Caribbean coral reefs (Perry et al. 2013, Steneck et al. 2019). The abundance and biomass of different fish groups, including parrotfishes, is also much higher on Bonaire’s coral reefs compared to more heavily fished reefs in the Eastern Caribbean (Hawkins & Roberts 2003, 2004, Steneck et al. 2019). The benthic composition across our study sites was similar, with relatively high coral cover ..., See README.md file.