Meeting Abstract

S10.8  Wednesday, Jan. 6  The effects of fishing, climate change, and other anthropogenic disturbances on red grouper and other reef fishes in the Gulf of Mexico. COLEMAN, Felicia C*; KOENIG, Christopher C; Florida State University; Florida State University coleman@bio.fsu.edu

In this paper, we evaluate the potential impact of anthropogenic disturbances like fishing, oil and gas exploration, and climate change on marine fish species known or suspected to be habitat engineers. The species of interest include those that inhabit remarkably different types of habitat at different life stages, and therefore can have significant influences across the sea floor at broad spatial scales. The emphasis is on a highly territorial reef fish, the red grouper Epinephelus morio, which excavates habitat throughout its life time in karst regions of the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic, in shallow (2-4 m) sites as juveniles and relatively deep (60-100 m) sites as adults. However, other species are evaluated as well, including the territorial but less agonistic goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara, which seeks shelter beneath mangrove root systems as juveniles and in caves, shipwrecks, and shallow water reefs as adults. We contend that disturbances that influence productivity in these species can and often do have cascading effects in marine communities that ultimately result in the loss of biodiversity and extreme community flux.