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Ecological Implications Of ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF ABUNDANT CRYPTOBENTHIC REEF FISHES: ESTIMATING PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN LIFE HISTORY TRAITS OF THE MASKED/GLASS GOBY CORYPHOPTERUS PERSONATUS/HYALINUS COMPLEX A Thesis by NICOLETTE S. BEEKEN BS, Florida Atlantic University, 2015 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in FISHERIES AND MARICULTURE Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, Texas December 2019 © Nicolette Somer Beeken All Rights Reserved December 2019 ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF ABUNDANT CRYPTOBENTHIC REEF FISHES: ESTIMATING PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN LIFE HISTORY TRAITS OF THE MASKED/GLASS GOBY CORYPHOPTERUS PERSONATUS/HYALINUS COMPLEX A Thesis by NICOLETTE S. BEEKEN This thesis meets the standards for scope and quality of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and is hereby approved. J. Derek Hogan, PhD Chair Simon Geist, PhD Benjamin Walther, PhD Committee Member Committee Member December 2019 ABSTRACT Fishes of the smallest size classes that inhabit benthic reef habitats are collectively known as cryptobenthic reef fishes, and they constitute a significant portion of reef fish biodiversity and biomass production. However, for many cryptobenthic reef fishes such as gobies, much is unknown about their life history. Understanding the demographics of a species can clarify its functional role, productivity, and resilience to disturbances in an ecosystem. The masked/glass goby Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus is an understudied Caribbean reef goby complex that is common and abundant. Otolith microstructure techniques reveal that C. personatus/hyalinus exhibits an extreme life history relative to other vertebrates due to its short lifespan, fast larval growth, and early maturity with linear growth in body length throughout reproductive age. Average daily larval growth largely determines pelagic larval duration where faster-growing individuals complete the larval stage in less time. The back-calculation of body length at settlement indicates that individuals with slower average larval growth had longer larval durations, and they compensate by attaining larger body lengths at settlement. Average daily growth substantially decreases over the settlement transition zone which approximately corresponds to sexual maturity. Notably, linear growth in body length may serve to support greater fecundity in older, larger-bodied females and enhance survivorship. The quick generational turnover, high abundance/productivity, broad depth range, and planktivorous diet of C. personatus/hyalinus indicates that it plays an important trophic role in transferring nutrients from pelagic plankton to reef predators and the reef benthos. Estimating life history traits related to survival, reproduction, and population size has useful applications in conservation biology and resource management. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my graduate advisor, Dr. Derek Hogan, for taking a chance on me, getting me on my feet during the early stages as a graduate student, and for your patience and guidance throughout my graduate research experience. Being an approachable and collaborative expert, you helped me develop as a young professional and scientist in the field of conservation and fish biology. Thank you to Drs Simon Geist and Ben Walther for your added insight especially during the early stages of my research. Your suggestions and tough questions (at the time) provided direction to the objectives of my work and helped evolve my thesis research into its current product. I owe a huge part of my efficiency and proficiency in processing otoliths and interpreting their life history information to Dr. Heidi Heim-Ballew. Thank you for being thorough in your lab trainings and showing a bit of “tough love”, which prepared me for the hike ahead. Jason Selwyn, thank you for your “quick fixes” in streamlining and correcting erroneous code in Rstudio. You were incredibly helpful during the data analysis stage of my project. I would also like to thank my funding sources, the Center for Coastal Studies and the FAMA program, for their support and contribution that enhanced the quality of my research and allowed me to present my research at scientific meetings. Thanks to my pals for our silly talks, beers n’ cheers, and “getaway” times downtime or at the beach which re-established some balance in my life. I would especially like to express appreciation for my family/clan which grounded me with a sense of humbleness, practicality, and gratitude for whatever success I have earned. Again, thank you to my family for their humor, support, and encouragement on my most challenging and rewarding endeavors/adventures, this one topping the list (for now)! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 METHODS ..................................................................................................................................... 5 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................... 10 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 21 Future Directions ....................................................................................................................... 27 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 29 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURES PAGE Figure 1: Map of study area at Turneffe Islands Atoll, Belize ....................................................... 5 Figure 2: Sagittal otolith radius of Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus imaged at 500X magnification indicating important feautres……………………………………………………... 9 Figure 3: Frequency distribution of Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus total body length at capture ........................................................................................................................................... 11 Figure 4: Frequency distribution of Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus estimated age at capture ....................................................................................................................................................... 12 Figure 5: Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus sagittal otolith size at capture as a predictor of estimated age and total body length at capture ............................................................................. 13 Figure 6: Relationship between Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus estimated age and total body length at capture ............................................................................................................................ 14 Figure 7: Frequency distribution of Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus pelagic larval duration ...................................................................................................................................................... .16 Figure 8: Inverse relationship between Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus average daily larval otolith growth and pelagic larval duration .................................................................................... 17 Figure 9: Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus pelagic larval duration and average daily larval otolith growth as predictors of back-calculated total body length at settlement ........................... 18 Figure 10: Time series of Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus average daily otolith growth across the life history ............................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 11: Distribution of Coryphopterus personatus/hyalinus average daily otolith growth between growth stages .................................................................................................................. 20 viii INTRODUCTION In part, life history theory aims to describe the diversity of life history strategies and understand the ecological mechanisms and consequences of such strategies. Across a broad range of terrestrial vertebrate taxa, age at maturity is correlated with lifespan where earlier- maturing families have shorter lifespans (Ricklefs, 2010). Similarly, variable extrinsic mortality appears to directly influence age at maturity and lifespan where higher mortality rates result in earlier maturation and shorter lifespans (Ricklefs, 2010). Understanding the demographics of a species can clarify its functional role, productivity, and resilience to disturbances in an ecosystem (Winemiller, 2005). As a result, life history theory and establishing baseline estimates of life history traits for species of interest has applications in conservation of coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and productive marine ecosystems (Coker et al., 2014). Cryptobenthic reef fishes make up a significant portion of
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