Date of Award
1-26-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Environmental Sciences, Ph.D.
First Advisor
Paul Sikkel
Committee Members
Amy Pearce; Richard Grippo; Tyler Smith; Virginie Rolland
Call Number
LD251.A566d 2016 A78
Abstract
Coral reef is habitat constructed by the scleractinian coral after which the habitat is named. While scleractinian coral colonies are often meters in extent, they are composed of small individual organisms—typically on the scale of millimeters across. Coral reefs that include an abundance of many coral species support a diverse abundance of fish and conspicuous invertebrate life. These macro constituents of coral reefs—coral colonies, reef fish and conspicuous invertebrates—have been the primary focus for much of the existing body of coral reef ecology research. One of the inconspicuous and understudied coral reef invertebrate constituents are gnathiid isopod fish parasites. These temporary external parasites attach to and feed on the blood of a broad range of reef fish but live the majority of their lifecycle on and in reef substrate. Most existing research on gnathiid isopods has focused on their interaction with reef fish they feed on or the cleaner organisms that remove gnathiid isopods from fish hosts. My dissertation research focuses on community interactions of one gnathiid isopod, Gnathia marleyi, common throughout shallow reef habitat in the Eastern Caribbean, to determine what regulates gnathiid populations and how gnathiid abundance affects the coral-reef community. I consider the role of suitable habitat, cleaning organisms, predation on gnathiids during free-living stages, and host-fish abundance as potential regulators of gnathiid populations. I present evidence that within a functioning coral reef community, gnathiid local abundance is a function of host-fish availability and habitat availability but that predation by live coral is the primary agent regulating gnathiid population. Furthermore, intensity of micropredation by gnathiid isopods can increase on reef plots lacking significant live coral cover implying a possible trophic cascade.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Artim, John Michael, "Habitat And Community Associations and the Population Dynamics of a Temporary Coral-Reef Fish Ectoparasite" (2017). Student Theses and Dissertations. 616.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/616
