Recruitment and post-recruit immigration affect the local population size of coral reef fishes

Abstract.

 This study quantifies the contributions of larval recruitment and post-recruit (juvenile and adult) immigration to net increases in population size for 150 species of fishes found on ten isolated coral patches or ‘bommies’ (108–267 m²) within a typical reef of the Great Barrier Reef system. At least one third of the total number of recruits and immigrants to all bommies were post-recruit fishes, and movement between bommies in 136 species was detected at some time during the 22 month sampling period. The relative numbers of recruits and post-recruit immigrants per species varied widely within the assemblage, and between the replicate bommies. Populations of 95 species received both types of immigrants, 41 species had only post-recruit immigrants, and 14 species received only larval recruitment. In most species, recruitment occurred over the austral summer between October and February, while post-recruit movements occurred in both summer and winter. Rates of post-recruit immigration varied temporally within bommies, and pulses of post-recruits were less temporally concordant between bommies than pulses of recruits. This study is further evidence that post-settlement processes can have a significant effect on the local population size of reef fishes.