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Species-specific impacts of suspended sediments on gill structure and function in coral reef fishes
- Source :
- Proceedings. Biological sciences. 284(1866)
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Reduced water quality, in particular increases in suspended sediments, has been linked to declines in fish abundance on coral reefs. Changes in gill structure induced by suspended sediments have been hypothesized to impair gill function and may provide a mechanistic basis for the observed declines; yet, evidence for this is lacking. We exposed juveniles of three reef fish species ( Amphiprion melanopus , Amphiprion percula and Acanthochromis polyacanthus ) to suspended sediments (0–180 mg l −1 ) for 7 days and examined changes in gill structure and metabolic performance (i.e. oxygen consumption). Exposure to suspended sediments led to shorter gill lamellae in A. melanopus and A. polyacanthus and reduced oxygen diffusion distances in all three species. While A. melanopus exhibited impaired oxygen uptake after suspended sediment exposure, i.e. decreased maximum and increased resting oxygen consumption rates resulting in decreased aerobic scope, the oxygen consumption rates of the other two species remained unaffected. These findings imply that species sensitive to changes in gill structure such as A. melanopus may decline in abundance as reefs become more turbid, whereas species that are able to maintain metabolic performance despite suspended sediment exposure, such as A. polyacanthus or A. percula , may be able to persist or gain a competitive advantage.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Gills
Geologic Sediments
Development and Physiology
Coral reef fish
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Random Allocation
Species Specificity
Abundance (ecology)
Animals
Acanthochromis polyacanthus
Reef
General Environmental Science
Suspended solids
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
General Immunology and Microbiology
Ecology
Coral Reefs
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
fungi
Sediment
General Medicine
Coral reef
biology.organism_classification
Perciformes
Water quality
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Environmental Monitoring
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14712954
- Volume :
- 284
- Issue :
- 1866
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings. Biological sciences
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c34e39a77e9b614d80d71962e8e0e48a