caa a22 4500 445818913 CHVBK 20180317145237.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00338-010-0674-6 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00338-010-0674-6 Chronic coral consumption by butterflyfishes [Elektronische Daten] [A. Cole, R. Lawton, M. Pratchett, S. Wilson] Interactions between predators and prey organisms are of fundamental importance to ecological communities. While the ecological impact that grazing predators can have in terrestrial and temperate marine systems are well established, the importance of coral grazers on tropical reefs has rarely been considered. In this study, we estimate the biomass of coral tissue consumed by four prominent species of corallivorous butterflyfishes. Sub-adult butterflyfishes (60-70mm, 6-11g) remove between 0.6 and 0.9g of live coral tissue per day, while larger adults (>110mm, ~40-50g) remove between 1.5 and 3g of coral tissue each day. These individual consumption rates correspond to the population of coral-feeding butterflyfishes at three exposed reef crest habitats at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, consuming between 14.6g (±2.0) and 19.6g (±3.9).200m−2day−1 of coral tissue. When standardised to the biomass of butterflyfishes present, a combined reefwide removal rate of 4.2g (±1.2) of coral tissue is consumed per 200m−2kg−1 of coral-feeding butterflyfishes. The quantity of coral tissue removed by these predators is considerably larger than previously expected and indicates that coral grazers are likely to play an important role in the transfer of energy fixed by corals to higher consumers. Chronic coral consumption by butterflyfishes is expected to exact a large energetic cost upon prey corals and contribute to an increased rate of coral loss on reefs already threatened by anthropogenic pressure and ongoing climate change. Springer-Verlag, 2010 Corallivore nationallicence Coral predation nationallicence Functional importance nationallicence Chaetodontidae nationallicence Partial mortality nationallicence Trophic link nationallicence Cole A. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, Australia aut Lawton R. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, Australia aut Pratchett M. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, Australia aut Wilson S. Marine Science Program, Department of Environment and Conservation, Kensington, WA, Australia aut Coral Reefs Springer-Verlag 30/1(2011-03-01), 85-93 0722-4028 30:1<85 2011 30 338 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0674-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-010-0674-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Cole A. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lawton R. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pratchett M. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Wilson S. Marine Science Program, Department of Environment and Conservation, Kensington, WA, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Coral Reefs Springer-Verlag 30/1(2011-03-01), 85-93 0722-4028 30:1<85 2011 30 338 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer