Bays-damselfish

We conducted an observational study on the benthic community of the fringing reefs in the two major bays in Moorea, French Polynesia (Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay) and investigated the relationship between the presence of damselfish (Stegastes nigricans) territories and corals within the territories. We found that corals had significantly greater species richness inside of S. nigricans territories than outside. Our results support a positive effect of S. nigricans on coral diversity, potentially through indirect positive effects on many non-dominant coral species.本研究针对法属波利尼西亚莫雷阿岛（Moorea）两处主要海湾——库克湾（Cook’s Bay）与奥普努胡湾（Opunohu Bay）的岸礁（fringing reefs）底栖生物群落（benthic community）开展了一项观测性研究，并探究了雀鲷（damselfish）物种黑雀鲷（Stegastes nigricans，简称S. nigricans）的领地分布与领地内珊瑚的关联。研究发现，黑雀鲷领地内的珊瑚物种丰富度显著高于领地外。本研究结果证实，黑雀鲷对珊瑚多样性具有正向促进作用，其潜在机制可能是通过对多种非优势珊瑚物种产生间接正向影响得以实现。