Reef fish biodiversity guarantees productivity
Biodiversity loss on coral reefs may threaten their functioning and services to humanity. However, the impacts of biodiversity change on reef fish productivity, a key function that sustains millions of humans, are not well understood. Here, we compiled a global dataset of coral reef fish surveys to examine whether assemblage biodiversity promotes productivity, in both space and time. Diversity acts as an insurance policy for productivity: although high levels of reef fish productivity can occur at any level of local species richness, we found no diverse assemblages with low productivity. This triangular relationship reconciles the apparent contradiction of productive monocultures identified in previous studies. Importantly, productivity strongly mirrors species richness trends regardless of initial richness. Implications for conservation and management are clear: reefs that are naturally less diverse can still be productive. Yet human-driven biodiversity declines are likely to translate to productivity declines, impacting ecological productivity and coastal populations.
Authors
- Mai Lazarus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6006-5605)
- Luisa Fontoura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3568-8565)
- Nina M. D. Schiettekatte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1925-3484)
- Dan A. Exton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8885-5828)
- Peter Houk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8414-9800)
- Rick Stuart Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5256-6087)
- Maarten De Brauwer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9592-979X)
- Hudson T. Pinheiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3143-1474)
- María Dornelas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2077-7055)
- Nicole L. Crane (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6112-0378)
- Patrick F. Smallhorn‐West (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6782-3704)
- Joey P. Cabasan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5472-6729)
- Laurent Vigliola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4715-7470)
- Juan P. Quimbayo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5346-3488)
- Joshua Madin
- Jonathan Belmaker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5618-7359)
- Osmar J. Luiz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6995-6524)
- Eva Maire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1032-3394)
- Diego R. Barneche (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4568-2362)
- Jesús Ernesto Arias‐González (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4601-710X)
- Maria Beger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1363-3571)
- Andrew Scott Hoey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4261-5594)
- Lucy K. Southworth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4975-9574)
- Brisneve Edullantes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4998-5018)
- Daniel Sadd
- Alan Friedlander
- Erika Gress (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4662-4017)
- Mae Angelie Paradela
- Adriana Alzate (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8236-6510)
- Lorenzo Álvarez‐Filip (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5726-7238)
- Joshua E. Cinner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2675-9317)
- Anna Koester (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0183-4907)
- Nicholas Graham
- Timothy Lamont
- Carlos Eduardo Ferreira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4311-0491)
- Graham Edgar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0833-9001)
- Guilherme Longo
- Alexandre Siquerira
- Valeriano Parravicini
- Fernando Zapata
- César Cordeiro
- Cleto Lema Nañola Jr.
- Fleurdeliz Maglangit
- Sergio Floeter
- Renato Morais
- Eukene Bensig
- Maria Palacios
- Denmark Recamara
- Laura Richardson
- Michael Emslie
- Cher F. Y. Chow
- Simon Brandl
- Anne Magurran
Institutions
- University of New Caledonia (NC)
- University of the Philippines Cebu (PH)
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center (NL)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- University of Tasmania (AU)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (BJ)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Australian Institute of Marine Science (AU)
- University of Lisbon (PT)
- University of Miami (US)
- University of Antwerp (BE)
- Ifremer (FR)
- Universidade Federal Fluminense (BR)
- Bangor University (GB)
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- University of St Andrews (GB)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Operation Wallacea (GB)
- University of Cebu (PH)
- State University of Norte Fluminense (BR)
- University of Massachusetts Boston (US)
- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (BR)
- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (BR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (CG)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (NC)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (SN)
- Marine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (FR)
- Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (AU)
- Écologie Marine Tropicale des Océans Pacifique et Indien (RE)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (AU)
- Oceans Institute (AU)
- Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (MX)
- Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (US)
- University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute (US)
- Instituto Politécnico Nacional (MX)
- Southern Cross University (AU)
- Lancaster University (GB)
- Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (MX)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA)
- University of Guam (GU)
- RMIT University (AU)
- James Cook University (AU)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
- Universidad del Valle (CO)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2026-10-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.32942/x2mq3k
- Primary Topic
- Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
- Type
- preprint