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Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Title:		Social interactions among grazing reef fish drive material flux in a coral reef ecosystem
Author(s):		Gil MA; Hein AM;
Address:		"Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; mikegil@sciall.org andrew.m.hein@gmail.com. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 mikegil@sciall.org andrew.m.hein@gmail.com"
Journal Title:		Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Year:		2017
Volume:		20170410
Issue:		18
Page Number:		4703 - 4708
DOI:		10.1073/pnas.1615652114
ISSN/ISBN:		1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Print) 0027-8424 (Linking)
Abstract:		"In human financial and social systems, exchanges of information among individuals cause speculative bubbles, behavioral cascades, and other correlated actions that profoundly influence system-level function. Exchanges of information are also widespread in ecological systems, but their effects on ecosystem-level processes are largely unknown. Herbivory is a critical ecological process in coral reefs, where diverse assemblages of fish maintain reef health by controlling the abundance of algae. Here, we show that social interactions have a major effect on fish grazing rates in a reef ecosystem. We combined a system for observing and manipulating large foraging areas in a coral reef with a class of dynamical decision-making models to reveal that reef fish use information about the density and actions of nearby fish to decide when to feed on algae and when to flee foraging areas. This 'behavioral coupling' causes bursts of feeding activity that account for up to 68% of the fish community's consumption of algae. Moreover, correlations in fish behavior induce a feedback, whereby each fish spends less time feeding when fewer fish are present, suggesting that reducing fish stocks may not only reduce total algal consumption but could decrease the amount of algae each remaining fish consumes. Our results demonstrate that social interactions among consumers can have a dominant effect on the flux of energy and materials through ecosystems, and our methodology paves the way for rigorous in situ measurements of the behavioral rules that underlie ecological rates in other natural systems"
Keywords:		"Animals Behavior, Animal/*physiology *Coral Reefs Fishes/*physiology *Models, Biological *Social Behavior Allee effect collective behavior critical transition ecological rates functional response;"
Notes:		"MedlineGil, Michael A Hein, Andrew M eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2017/04/12 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 May 2; 114(18):4703-4708. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1615652114. Epub 2017 Apr 10"