Who wins in the battle for space? The importance of priority, behavioural history and size

Patterns of spawning and settlement of reef fishes as strategic responses to post-settlement competition

Settlement is a critical transition in the life history of reef fish, and the timing of this event can have a strong effect on fitness. Key factors that influence settlement timing are predictable lunar cyclic variation in tidal currents, moonlight, and nocturnal predation risk as larvae transition from pelagic to benthic environments. However, populations typically display wide variation in the arrival of settlers over the lunar cycle. This variation is often hypothesized to result from unpredictable conditions in the pelagic environment and bet-hedging by spawning adults. Here, we consider the hypothesis that the timing of spawning and settlement is a strategic response to post-settlement competition. We use a game theoretic model to predict spawning and settlement distributions when fish face a tradeoff between minimizing density-independent predation risk while crossing the reef crest vs. avoiding high competitor density on settlement habitat. In general, we expect competition to spread spawning over time such that settlement is distributed around the lunar phase with the lowest predation risk, similar to an ideal free distribution in which competition spreads competitors across space. We examine the effects of overcompensating density dependence, age-dependent competition, and competition among daily settler cohorts. Our model predicts that even in the absence of stochastic variation in the larval environment, competition can result in qualitative divergence between spawning and settlement distributions. Furthermore, we show that if competitive strength increases with settler age, competition results in covariation between settler age and settlement date, with older larvae settling when predation risk is minimal. We predict that competition between daily cohorts delays peak settlement, with priority effects potentially selecting for a multimodal settlement distribution.

Behavioral dominance interactions between two species of burying beetles (Nicrophorus orbicollis and Nicrophorus pustulatus)

Closely related species with ecological similarity often aggressively compete for a common, limited resource. This competition is usually asymmetric and results in one species being behaviorally dominant over the other. Trade-offs between traits for behavioral dominance and alternative strategies can result in different methods of resource acquisition between the dominant and subordinate species, with important consequences for resource partitioning and community structure. Body size is a key trait thought to commonly determine behavioral dominance. Priority effects (i.e., which species arrives at the resource first), however, can also determine the outcome of interactions, as can species-specific traits besides size that give an advantage in aggressive contests (e.g., weapons). Here, we test among these three alternative hypotheses of body size, priority effects, and species identity for what determines the outcome of competitive interactions among two species of burying beetles, Nicrophorus orbicollis and N. pustulatus. Both overlap in habitat and seasonality and exhibit aggressive competition over a shared breeding resource of small vertebrate carrion. In trials, we simulated what would happen upon the beetles' discovery of a carcass in nature by placing a carcass and one beetle of each species in a container and observing interactions over 13 h trials (n = 17 trials). We recorded and categorized interactions between beetles and the duration each individual spent in contact with the carcass (the key resource) to determine which hypothesis predicted trial outcomes. Body size was our only significant predictor; the largest species won most aggressive interactions and spent more time in contact with the carcass. Our results offer insight into the ecology and patterns of resource partitioning of N. orbicollis and N. pustulatus, the latter of which is unique among local Nicrophorus for being a canopy specialist. N. pustulatus is also unique among all Nicrophorus in using snake eggs, in addition to other carrion, as a breeding resource. Our results highlight the importance of body size and related trade-offs in ecology and suggest parallels with other coexisting species and communities.

Stage-mediated priority effects and season lengths shape long-term competition dynamics

The relative arrival time of species can affect their interactions and thus determine which species persist in a community. Although this phenomenon, called priority effect, is widespread in natural communities, it is unclear how it depends on the length of growing season. Using a seasonal stage-structured model, we show that differences in stages of interacting species could generate priority effects by altering the strength of stabilizing and equalizing coexistence mechanisms, changing outcomes between exclusion, coexistence and positive frequency dependence. However, these priority effects are strongest in systems with just one or a few generations per season and diminish in systems where many overlapping generations per season dilute the importance of stage-specific interactions. Our model reveals a novel link between the number of generations in a season and the consequences of priority effects, suggesting that consequences of phenological shifts driven by climate change should depend on specific life histories of organisms.

Priority Effects Determine How Dispersal Affects Biodiversity in Seasonal Metacommunities

AbstractThe arrival order of species frequently determines the outcome of their interactions. This phenomenon, called the priority effect, is ubiquitous in nature and determines local community structure, but we know surprisingly little about how it influences biodiversity across different spatial scales. Here, we use a seasonal metacommunity model to show that biodiversity patterns and the homogenizing effect of high dispersal depend on the specific mechanisms underlying priority effects. When priority effects are driven only by positive frequency dependence, dispersal-diversity relationships are sensitive to initial conditions but generally show a hump-shaped relationship: biodiversity declines when dispersal rates become high and allow the dominant competitor to exclude other species across patches. When spatiotemporal variation in phenological differences alters species' interaction strengths (trait-dependent priority effects), local, regional, and temporal diversity are surprisingly insensitive to variation in dispersal, regardless of the initial numeric advantage. Thus, trait-dependent priority effects can strongly reduce the effect of dispersal on biodiversity, preventing the homogenization of metacommunities. Our results suggest an alternative mechanism that maintains local and regional diversity without environmental heterogeneity, highlighting that accounting for the mechanisms underlying priority effects is fundamental to understanding patterns of biodiversity.

Untangling the complexity of priority effects in multispecies communities

The history of species immigration can dictate how species interact in local communities, thereby causing historical contingency in community assembly. Since immigration history is rarely known, these historical influences, or priority effects, pose a major challenge in predicting community assembly. Here, we provide a graph-based, non-parametric, theoretical framework for understanding the predictability of community assembly as affected by priority effects. To develop this framework, we first show that the diversity of possible priority effects increases super-exponentially with the number of species. We then point out that, despite this diversity, the consequences of priority effects for multispecies communities can be classified into four basic types, each of which reduces community predictability: alternative stable states, alternative transient paths, compositional cycles and the lack of escapes from compositional cycles to stable states. Using a neural network, we show that this classification of priority effects enables accurate explanation of community predictability, particularly when each species immigrates repeatedly. We also demonstrate the empirical utility of our theoretical framework by applying it to two experimentally derived assembly graphs of algal and ciliate communities. Based on these analyses, we discuss how the framework proposed here can help guide experimental investigation of the predictability of history-dependent community assembly.

Intrageneric differences in the effects of acute temperature exposure on competitive behaviour of damselfishes

Projected increases in global temperatures brought on by climate change threaten to disrupt many biological and ecological processes. Tropical ectotherms, like many fishes, can be particularly susceptible to temperature change as they occupy environments with narrow thermal fluctuations. While climate change models predict temperatures to increase over decades, thermal fluctuations are already experienced on a seasonal scale, which may affect the ability to capture and defend resources across a thermal gradient. For coral reef fish, losers of competitive interactions are often more vulnerable to predation, and this pressure is strongest just after settlement. Competitive interactions may determine future success for coral reef fishes, and understanding how temperature experienced during settlement can influence such interactions will give insight to community dynamics in a future warmer world. We tested the effect of increased temperatures on intraspecific competitive interactions of two sympatric species of reef damselfish, the blue damselfish Pomacentrus nagasakiensis, and the whitetail damselfish Pomacentrus chrysurus. Juvenile fishes were exposed to one of four temperature treatments, ranging from 26–32 °C, for seven days then placed into competitive arenas where aggressive interactions were recorded between sized matched individuals within each species. While there was no apparent effect of temperature treatment on aggressive behaviour for P. chrysurus, we observed up to a four-fold increase in aggression scores for P. nagasakiensis with increasing temperature. Results suggest that temperature experienced as juveniles can impact aggressive behaviour; however, species-specific thermal tolerances led to behavioural affects that differ among closely related species. Differential thermal tolerance among species may cause restructuring of the interaction network that underlies the structure of reef assemblages.

Coral degradation alters predator odour signatures and influences prey learning and survival

Habitat degradation is a key factor leading to the global loss of biodiversity. This problem is particularly acute in coral reef ecosystems. We investigated whether recognition of predator odours by damselfish was influenced by coral degradation and whether these changes altered survival in the wild. We taught whitespot damselfish to recognize the odour of a predator in the presence of live/healthy coral or dead/degraded coral. Fish were tested for a response to predator odours in environments that matched their conditioning environment or in environments that were mismatched. Next, we taught blue damselfish to recognize the odour of three common reef predators in live and degraded coral environments and then stocked them onto live or degraded patch reefs, where we monitored their subsequent response to predator odour along with their survival. Damselfish learned to recognize predator odours in both coral environments, but the intensity of their antipredator response was much greater when the conditioning and test environments matched. Fish released on degraded coral had about 50% higher survival if they had been trained in the presence of degraded coral rather than live coral. Altering the intensity of antipredator responses could have rather profound consequences on population growth.

Persistence and space preemption explain species-specific founder effects on the organization of marine sessile communities

Community assembly may not follow predictable successional stages, with a large fraction of the species pool constituted by potential pioneering species and successful founders defined through lottery. In such systems, priority effects may be relevant in the determination of trajectories of developing communities and hence diversity and assemblage structure at later advanced states. In order to assess how different founder species may trigger variable community trajectories and structures, we conducted an experimental study using subtidal sessile assemblages as model. We manipulated the identity of functionally different founders and initial colony size (a proxy of the time lag before the arrival of later species), and followed trajectories. We did not observe any effects of colony size on response variables, suggesting that priority effects take place even when the time lag between the establishment of pioneering species and late colonizers is very short. Late community structure at experimental panels that started either with the colonial ascidian Botrylloides nigrum, or the arborescent bryozoan Bugula neritina, was similar to control panels allowed natural assembling. In spite of high potential for fast space domination, and hence negative priority effects, B. nigrum suffered high mortality and did not persist throughout succession. Bugula neritina provided complex physical microhabitats through conspecific clustering that have enhanced larval settlement of late species arrivals, but no apparent facilitation was observed. Differently, panels founded by the encrusting bryozoan Schizoporella errata led to different and less diverse communities compared to naturally assembled panels, evidencing strong negative priority effects through higher persistence and space preemption. Schizoporella errata founder colonies inhibited further conspecific settlement, which may greatly relax intraspecific competition, allowing resource allocation to colony growth and space domination, thus reducing the chances for the establishment of other species.

Duration of Exposure to Elevated Temperature Affects Competitive Interactions in Juvenile Reef Fishes

Climate change will affect key ecological processes that structure natural communities, but the outcome of interactions between individuals and species will depend on their thermal plasticity. We tested how short- and long-term exposure to projected future temperatures affects intraspecific and interspecific competitive interactions in two species of coral reef damselfishes. In conspecific contests, juvenile Ambon damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis, exhibited no change in aggressive interactions after 4d exposure to higher temperatures. However, after 90d of exposure, fish showed a nonadaptive reduction in aggression at elevated temperatures. Conversely, 4d exposure to higher temperature increased aggression towards conspecifics in the lemon damselfish, Pomacentrus moluccensis. 90d exposure began to reduce this pattern, but overall there was little effect of temperature. Aggression in interspecific contests increased with short-term exposure, but was significantly lower after long-term exposure indicative of acclimation. Our results show how the length of exposure to elevated temperature can affect the outcome of competitive interactions. Furthermore, we illustrate that results from intraspecific contests may not accurately predict interspecific interactions, which will challenge our ability to generalise the effects of warming on competitive interactions.

Individual consistency in the behaviors of newly-settled reef fish

Flexibility in behavior is advantageous for organisms that transition between stages of a complex life history. However, various constraints can set limits on plasticity, giving rise to the existence of personalities that have associated costs and benefits. Here, we document a field and laboratory experiment that examines the consistency of measures of boldness, activity, and aggressive behavior in the young of a tropical reef fish, Pomacentrus amboinensis (Pomacentridae) immediately following their transition between pelagic larval and benthic juvenile habitats. Newly-settled fish were observed in aquaria and in the field on replicated patches of natural habitat cleared of resident fishes. Seven behavioral traits representing aspects of boldness, activity and aggression were monitored directly and via video camera over short (minutes), medium (hours), and long (3 days) time scales. With the exception of aggression, these behaviors were found to be moderately or highly consistent over all time scales in both laboratory and field settings, implying that these fish show stable personalities within various settings. Our study is the first to examine the temporal constancy of behaviors in both field and laboratory settings in over various time scales at a critically important phase during the life cycle of a reef fish.