Parrotfish preference of food may be affected

by climate change.
The effects of climate change are affecting our coral reefs
worldwide, warming ocean temperatures, high acidification and
sedimentation are putting a strain on the ecosystem and the natural
functions that occur get thrown off course. Parrotfish play a vital role
for coral reef ecosystem as they prevent algal overgrowth on these
corals and therefore keep the ecosystem in check.
The reasoning behind this study was to answer the question of
Does feeding preference of parrotfish change at different depths
according to the structure of the coral reef available? This is
important to know as it allows a better understanding of what the
impacts of climate change could be and to ensure that these
particular coral types that parrotfish are showing a preference for
are resilient enough and can withstand the effects of climate
change.

The importance of parrotfish to healthy ecosystem

Parrotfish are a family of fish that come in many shapes and sizes.
These fish feed on algae that grow upon coral, by using their
specialised jaw to scrape off these algae. By doing this, the
parrotfish help prevent an overgrowth of algae on these coral reefs.
They also ingest large amounts of the coral rock, which is ingested
and passed through their faeces as fine sediment. This fine
sediment is essential in the formation of beaches, distribution of
sand as well as the bottom sediment.

Structure of coral reefs

Without these parrotfish, algae would dominate the coral reef, and
therefore the coral will not be able to grow. When removing this
coral, the parrotfish also consume part of the coral rock and
therefore greatly influence the structure of these coral reefs. This
study was conducted on the Great Barrier Reef, which contributes
A$6 billion a year to the Australian economy and supports 63,000
jobs. The Great Barrier Reef is also home to approximately 1600
species of fish as well as numerous other marine animals, so
keeping this ecosystem healthy, and knowing as much knowledge
about how it functions is a necessity to the Australian economy and
to the health of the environment.

How climate change could affect parrotfish

Our study shows that the main element influencing the type of coral
a parrotfish is eating is the particular coral type itself. This means
that to better plan for the effects of climate change, it is necessary
to ensure that these particular coral types that parrotfish are
showing a preference for are resilient enough and can withstand the
effects of climate change.
Over a period of three days, at Heron Island on the Great Barrier
Reef, parrotfish feeding behaviour was observed and these
observations were recorded to better understand what influences
their feeding preferences the most. These observations were done
at two depths, shallow water by snorkelers (0-5m) and in deep water
by SCUBA divers (10-15m).
As well as examining feeding behaviour of parrotfish, a survey of the
structure of the coral reef was done, by using a line transects. The
transects were 30 metres long and the observer would swim along
these lines looking approximately 1 metre on each side and record
what type of coral was present. The coral types were sorted into 5
major types: branching, encrusting, plating, massive and
sand/rubble. This was done as the observers had limited time and
knowledge to completely identify the coral down to the species.

What do we do to save reefs?

Start with parrotfish. Educate communities and stakeholders on the
importance of parrotfish, and the need for their protection under the
fisheries law and regulations would dramatically affect the numbers
of parrotfish. But even after doing this, parrotfish may have no food
to eat and therefore managing the ecosystem and the effects that
we have on it need to be assessed and managed first.
Our work suggests that a need for managing reef ecosystems at a
large scale is necessary if we want a healthy and functioning
ecosystem. To save coral reefs, atmospheric CO2 needs to be
reduced, coral need not be damaged, fish need to be able to
reproduce before theyre caught and we need to protect ecosystems
as marine reserves. The coral types that were more preferable over
the others need to be able to withstand the effects of climate
change and easily recover so that the abundance and resilience of
parrotfish who are vital for a functioning ecosystem remains in the
future.