Local and regional patterns of distribution and abundance in marine reef fishes.

Abstract

Local and regional patterns of distribution and abundance are documented in marine rocky-reef fishes. Chapter one describes limits of distribution and patterns of density variation of two fishes in a northern Gulf of California intertidal shore. The density of Sonora gobies (Gobiosoma chiquita) increases with tidal height over its intertidal range (-1.2 to 0.9 m), whereas the density of patchscale gobies (Gobiosoma sp.) decreases from the subtidal zone to 0.6 m above mean low water level. Both species exhibit higher densities during the warmer season when intertidal temperature gradients are weaker than during the colder season. Sonora gobies show a broader range of temperature tolerance than patchscale gobies but there is no evidence of shifts in distribution between seasons suggesting that the distributions of these species are not determined by temperature. Interspecific interactions may contribute to the patterns of intertidal distribution and abundance in these species despite the rigorous physical environment of the area. Chapter two documents a positive correlation between average local abundance and extent of geographic distribution in rocky-shore fishes from the Gulf of California. This correlation is not an artifact of sampling an arbitrarily defined region and is unlikely to be an artifact of sampling bias. The occurrence of this relationship in a variety of organisms suggests that the processes responsible for this pattern are likely to be similar in both terrestrial and marine environments despite fundamental differences between the two. Chapter three demonstrates that egg type and adult body size explain a considerable portion of the variation in extent of geographic range in marine reef fishes. Species with pelagic eggs have larger geographic ranges, longer larval lives, and larger body sizes than species with non-pelagic eggs. Small species with non-pelagic eggs show smaller geographic ranges than any other combination of body size and egg type. These biogeographic patterns predict a greater degree of genetic isolation among populations, and a greater species turnover over evolutionary time in clades of small species with non-pelagic eggs than in clades of species with other combinations of body size and egg type.