Artificial reefs facilitate tropical fish at their range edge.
Avery B Paxton, Charles H Peterson, J Christopher Taylor, Alyssa M Adler, Emily A Pickering, Brian R Silliman
Author Information
Avery B Paxton: 1Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557 USA. ORCID
Charles H Peterson: 1Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557 USA.
J Christopher Taylor: 3National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 101 Pivers Island Road, Beaufort, NC 28516 USA.
Alyssa M Adler: 1Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557 USA.
Emily A Pickering: 1Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557 USA.
Brian R Silliman: 4Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Lab, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516 USA.
Spatial planning increasingly incorporates theoretical predictions that artificial habitats assist species movement at or beyond range edges, yet evidence for this is uncommon. We conducted surveys of highly mobile fauna (fishes) on artificial habitats (reefs) on the southeastern USA continental shelf to test whether, in comparison to natural reefs, artificial reefs enhance local abundance and biomass of fishes at their poleward range margins. Here, we show that while temperate fishes were more abundant on natural reefs, tropical, and subtropical fishes exhibited higher abundances and biomasses on deep (25-35 m) artificial reefs. Further analyses reveal that this effect depended on feeding guilds because planktivorous and piscivorous but not herbivorous fishes were more abundant on artificial reefs. This is potentially due to heightened prey availability on and structural complexity of artificial reefs. Our findings demonstrate that artificial habitats can facilitate highly mobile species at range edges and suggest these habitats assist poleward species movement.
