Publication Date:
2001-05-26
Description:
Tropical reef fishes and corals exhibit highly predictable patterns of taxonomic composition across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Despite steep longitudinal and latitudinal gradients in total species richness, the composition of these key taxa is constrained within a remarkably narrow range of values. Regional-scale variation in reef biodiversity is best explained by large-scale patterns in the availability of shallow-water habitat. Once habitat area is accounted for, there is surprisingly little residual effect of latitude or longitude. Low-diversity regions are most vulnerable to human impacts such as global warming, underscoring the urgent need for integrated management at multinational scales.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bellwood, D R -- Hughes, T P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 May 25;292(5521):1532-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for Coral Reef Biodiversity, Department of Marine Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia. david.bellwood@jcu.edu.au〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11375488" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
*Cnidaria/classification/physiology
;
Conservation of Natural Resources
;
*Ecosystem
;
*Fishes/classification/physiology
;
Geography
;
Greenhouse Effect
;
Indian Ocean
;
Pacific Ocean
;
Temperature
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
