Differential persistence favors habitat preferences that determine the distribution of a reef fish

A central focus of population ecology is understanding what factors explain the distribution and abundance of organisms within their range. This is a key issue in marine systems, where many organisms produce dispersive larvae that develop offshore before returning to settle on benthic habitat. We investigated the distribution of the neon goby, Elacatinus lori, on sponge habitat and evaluated whether variation in the persistence of recently settled individuals (i.e., settlers) among different sponge types can result in habitat preferences and establish their observed distribution. We found that E. lori settlers were more likely to occur on large yellow tube sponges (Aplysina fistularis) than on small yellow sponges or brown tube sponges (Agelas conifera). An experiment seeding settlers onto multiple species and sizes of sponge habitat revealed that settlers persist longer on large yellow sponges than on small yellow sponges or brown sponges. Habitat preference experiments also indicated ...种群生态学（population ecology）的核心研究议题之一，是解析何种因素能够阐释生物在其分布范围内的分布格局与种群丰度。这在海洋生态系统中是一项关键课题：诸多海洋生物会产生扩散性幼体，这些幼体在远海海域完成发育后，返回并定居于底栖生境（benthic habitat）。本研究针对霓虹虾虎鱼（Elacatinus lori）在海绵生境中的分布展开调查，并评估不同海绵类型间新近定居个体（settlers）的存活持久性差异，是否会催生生境偏好，并进而塑造该物种的实际观测分布格局。研究发现，相较于小型黄色海绵或棕色管状海绵（Agelas conifera），霓虹虾虎鱼的定居幼体更易在大型黄色管状海绵（Aplysina fistularis）上被发现。通过向多种物种、不同尺寸的海绵生境中投放定居幼体的实验结果显示，定居幼体在大型黄色海绵上的存活时长显著长于小型黄色海绵与棕色海绵。生境偏好实验同样表明……