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Chinese Journal of Ecology ›› 2021, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (7): 2133-2145.doi: 10.13292/j.1000-4890.202107.029

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The community structure of parrotfish in typical islands and reefs of the South China Sea.

QUAN Qiu-mei1,2, WANG Teng2,3, LIU Yong2,3, GUO Jia-tong2,4, XIE Yu-fang1,2, LI Chun-ran2,5, LI Chun-hou2,3*   

  1.  (1College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China; 2South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences; Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation & Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Observation and Research Station of Pearl River Estuary Ecosystem, Guangdong Province, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fishery Ecology and Environment, Guangzhou 510300, China; 3Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China; 4Fisheries College, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316022, Zhejiang, China; 5College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China).
  • Online:2021-07-10 Published:2021-07-13

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Abstract: Clarifying the effects of human activities on parrotfish can provide scientific basis for the protection and reasonable development of parrotfish resources. We carried out a survey on parrotfish in typical islands and reefs in the South China Sea in July 2020. The results showed that a total of 20 parrotfish species belonging to four genera were recorded. Among those species, 14 species were found in the Meiji reef and Jinqing island, and 9 species were found in Lingshui, Hainan Province. Biodiversity indices (Shannon diversity index (H), Pielou evenness index (J), and Margalef diversity index (D)) were in order of Meiji reef (3.09, 0.81, 2.50) > Jinqing island (2.32, 0.61, 2.27) > Lingshui (1.66, 0.52, 1.44). Human population density increased and biodiversity decreased from offshore islands to nearshore zone, suggesting that fishing intensity was increased from Meiji reef to Jinqing island to Lingshui. In addition, the number and weight percentage of excavators that were susceptible to human disturbance were in order of Meiji reef (28.96%, 26.27%) > Jinqing island (15.86%, 10.60%) > Lingshui (1.15%, 0.51%). The number and weight percentage of browsers that were similarly sensitive to overfishing were also in order of Meiji reef (1.64%, 0.82%) > Jinqing island (1.29%, 0.76%) > Lingshui (0, 0). The spatial variation of the structure composition of feeding functional groups also reflected the difference of fishing pressure in different regions. The standardized body length of parrotfish in each feeding functional group (i.e. the ratio of body length to the maximum length of corresponding species in Fishbase database) showed the order of Jinqing island > Meiji reef > Lingshui (P<0.05), which is consistent with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Moderate fishing can reduce interspecific competition for parrotfish in Jinqing island, leaving more space and food resources for surviving parrotfish, while long-term overfishing tends to reduce the individual size of parrotfish.

Key words: parrotfish, intermediate disturbance hypothesis, feeding functional group, human perturbation.