MCR LTER: Coral Reefs: Stegastes behavior data in support of Kamath, et al., Oikos 2019

Stable between-group differences in collective behavior have been documented in a variety of social taxa. Here we evaluate the effects of such variation, often termed collective or colony-level personality, on coral recovery in a tropical marine farmerfish system. Groups of the farmerfish Stegastes nigricans cultivate and defend gardens of palatable algae on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific. These gardens can promote the recruitment, growth, and survival of corals by providing a refuge from coral predation. Here we experimentally evaluate whether the collective defensive behavior of farmerfish colonies is correlated across intruder feeding guilds—herbivores, corallivores and egg-eating predators. Further, we evaluate if overall colony responsiveness or situation-specific responsiveness (i.e., towards herbivores, corallivores, or egg-eaters in particular) best predicts the growth of outplanted corals. Finally, we experimentally manipulated communities within S. nigricans gardens, adding either macroalgae or large colonies of coral, to assess if farmerfish behavior changes in response to the communities they occupy. Between-group differences in collective responsiveness were repeatable across intruder guilds. Despite this consistency, responsiveness towards corallivores (porcupinefish and ornate butterflyfish) was a better predictor of outplanted coral growth than responsiveness towards herbivores or egg-eaters. Adding large corals to farmerfish gardens increased farmerfish attacks towards intruders, pointing to possible positive feedback loops between their aggression towards intruders and the presence of corals whose growth they facilitate. These data provide evidence that among-group behavioral variation could strongly influence the ecological properties of whole communities. These data support the publication Kamath, A., J. N. Pruitt, A.J. Brooks, M.C Ladd, D.T. Cook, J.P. Gallagher, M.E. Vickers, S.J. Holbrook and R.J. Schmitt. 2019. Potential feedback between coral presence and farmerfish collective behavior promotes coral recovery. Oikos 128:482-492. doi:10.1111/oik.05854 This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. OCE 16-37396 (and earlier awards) as well as a generous gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Research was completed under permits issued by the French Polynesian Government (Délégation à la Recherche) and the Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie Francaise (DTRT) (Protocole d'Accueil 2005-2018). This work represents a contribution of the Moorea Coral Reef (MCR) LTER Site.已有研究在多种社会类群中记录到了集体行为的稳定组间差异。本研究旨在评估这类常被称为集体/群体层面的个性（collective or colony-level personality）的变异，对热带海洋园丁雀鲷（farmerfish）系统中珊瑚恢复的影响。在印度-太平洋海域的珊瑚礁上，黑新箭齿雀鲷（Stegastes nigricans）的群体能够培育并管护适口藻类的“藻园”。这类藻园可为珊瑚提供躲避珊瑚捕食者的庇护所，从而促进珊瑚的定居、生长与存活。 本研究通过实验探究，园丁雀鲷群体的集体防御行为在不同取食功能群（feeding guilds）的入侵者（植食者、食珊瑚者与食卵捕食者）之间是否存在相关性。此外，本研究还评估了整体群体响应性与情境特异性响应性（即分别针对植食者、食珊瑚者或食卵捕食者的响应）中，哪一种能够更好地预测移种珊瑚（outplanted corals）的生长情况。最后，本研究对黑新箭齿雀鲷藻园内的群落进行了实验操控，分别添加大型藻类（macroalgae）或大型珊瑚群体，以探究园丁雀鲷的行为是否会随其所栖息的群落环境发生改变。 集体响应性的组间差异在不同入侵者功能群间具有可重复性。尽管存在这种一致性，但相较于针对植食者或食卵捕食者的响应性，针对食珊瑚者（刺豚（porcupinefish）与细纹蝴蝶鱼（ornate butterflyfish））的响应性能够更好地预测移种珊瑚的生长情况。向园丁雀鲷藻园添加大型珊瑚会增强雀鲷对入侵者的攻击行为，这表明其针对入侵者的攻击行为与它们所促进生长的珊瑚的存在之间，可能存在正向反馈环路（positive feedback loops）。本研究数据表明，群体间的行为差异能够强烈影响整个群落的生态特性。 本研究数据支持以下已发表成果：Kamath, A.、J. N. Pruitt、A.J. Brooks、M.C Ladd、D.T. Cook、J.P. Gallagher、M.E. Vickers、S.J. Holbrook与R.J. Schmitt于2019年发表于《Oikos》第128卷第482-492页的论文《珊瑚存在与园丁雀鲷集体行为间的潜在反馈促进珊瑚恢复》，DOI:10.1111/oik.05854。 本研究工作得到了美国国家科学基金会（Grant No. OCE 16-37396及此前资助项目）以及戈登与贝蒂·摩尔基金会的慷慨资助。本研究的开展已获得法属波利尼西亚政府（研究代表团）以及法国驻法属波利尼西亚高级专员公署（DTRT，Protocole d'Accueil 2005-2018）签发的许可。本研究为莫雷阿珊瑚礁（Moorea Coral Reef, MCR）长期生态研究（Long-Term Ecological Research, LTER）站点的成果之一。