Quaternary coral reef refugia preserved fish diversity

Pellissier, Loïc; Leprieur, Fabien; Parravicini, Valeriano; Cowman, Peter F.; Kulbicki, Michel; Litsios, Glenn; Olsen, Steffen M.; Wisz, Mary S.; Bellwood, David R.; Mouillot, David

doi:10.1126/science.1249853

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Quaternary coral reef refugia preserved fish diversity

Université de Fribourg

Pellissier, Loïc University of Fribourg, Department of Biology, Switzerland - Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark
Leprieur, Fabien Laboratoire Ecologie des Systèmes Marins Côtiers, Montpellier, France
Parravicini, Valeriano Corail, Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls/mer, France - Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité, Aix-en-Provence, France
Cowman, Peter F. Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Kulbicki, Michel Corail, Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls/mer, France
Litsios, Glenn Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland - Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
Olsen, Steffen M. Center for Ocean and Ice, Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Wisz, Mary S. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark - Department of Ecology and Environment, Hørsholm, Denmark
Bellwood, David R. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
Mouillot, David Laboratoire Ecologie des Systèmes Marins Côtiers, Montpellier, France - Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

30.05.2014

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Science. - 2014, vol. 344, no. 6187, p. 1016–1019

English The most prominent pattern in global marine biogeography is the biodiversity peak in the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Yet the processes that underpin this pattern are still actively debated. By reconstructing global marine paleoenvironments over the past 3 million years on the basis of sediment cores, we assessed the extent to which Quaternary climate fluctuations can explain global variation in current reef fish richness. Comparing global historical coral reef habitat availability with the present-day distribution of 6316 reef fish species, we find that distance from stable coral reef habitats during historical periods of habitat loss explains 62% of the variation in fish richness, outweighing present-day environmental factors. Our results highlight the importance of habitat persistence during periods of climate change for preserving marine biodiversity.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Biologie

Language