Reef fish recruitment dynamics: integration and
analysis of long-term visual fish surveys to examine
environmental influences.
The idea that connectivity between mangrove forests and
coral reefs, mediated by ontogenetic migrations of reef
fishes that use mangroves for nursery habitat, is crucial
for the replenishment of adult populations on the reef has
recently received renewed attention. However, direct
evidence of this linkage and an understanding of the
influence variability of juveniles within mangrove
nurseries has on the dynamics of adult reef fish
populations is still lacking for many species. The present
work is part of a larger study integrating two long-term
and on-going efforts in southern Florida using visual
survey methods to monitor fishes inhabiting (1) the Florida
Keys reef tract and (2) adjacent inshore mangrove nursery
habitats in Biscayne Bay. Our objective is to synthesize
both data sets to establish the nature and extent of the
linkage between mangrove and reef habitats and construct
predictive models of recruitment dynamics, based on the
mangrove survey data, that account for environmental
variation and allow estimation of reef fish stock size.
