Fish Assemblage Structure in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Is Associated with the Architectural Complexity of Coral-Reef Habitats

Abstract

The architectural complexity of coral-reef habitat plays an important role in determining the assemblage structure of reef fish. We investigated associations between the reef habitats and fish assemblages in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) using in situ fish counts and data on habitat metrics and benthic community composition that were obtained from three-dimensional (3D) photogrammetric reconstructions of the surveyed sites. The structure of fish assemblage as a whole on the basis of Bray–Curtis dissimilarity, species richness and the abundances of herbivores and piscivores were associated with habitat metrics, with higher levels of architectural complexity generally supporting greater numbers of fish species and individuals. Benthic cover did not explain additional variation in these variables after the effects of habitat metrics were taken into account. Corallivorous fish was the only group that showed positive associations with both habitat metrics and benthic cover (Acropora and Pocillopora corals). The total fish abundance and the abundances of planktivores and invertivores did not show associations with either habitat metrics or benthic cover. This study suggests that an appropriate combination of habitat metrics can be used to account sufficiently for the effects of habitat architecture on fish assemblages in reef monitoring efforts in the NWHI.