RESEARCH ARTICLE Reconstructing reef fish communities using fish otoliths in coral reef sediments 1,2 3 3 4 Chien-Hsiang LinID *, Brigida De Gracia , Michele E. R. Pierotti , Allen H. Andrews , Katie Griswold3, Aaron O'Dea3 1 Center for Ecology and Environment, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan, 2 Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan, 3 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Republic of Panama, 4 Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, HI, United States of America *
[email protected] a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 Abstract a1111111111 Little is known about long-term changes in coral reef fish communities. Here we present a new technique that leverages fish otoliths in reef sediments to reconstruct coral reef fish communities. We found over 5,400 otoliths in 169 modern and mid-Holocene bulk samples from Caribbean Panama and Dominican Republic mid-Holocene and modern reefs, demon- OPEN ACCESS strating otoliths are abundant in reef sediments. With a specially-built reference collection, Citation: Lin C-H, De Gracia B, Pierotti MER, we were able to assign over 4,400 otoliths to one of 56 taxa (35 families) though mostly at Andrews AH, Griswold K, O'Dea A (2019) genus and family level. Many otoliths were from juvenile fishes for which identification is Reconstructing reef fish communities using fish otoliths in coral reef sediments. PLoS ONE 14(6): challenging. Richness (by rarefaction) of otolith assemblages was slightly higher in modern e0218413. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. than mid-Holocene reefs, but further analyses are required to elucidate the underlying pone.0218413 causes.