{"title":"Benthic Algal Assemblages Associated with Damselfi sh Territories in The Gulf of Thailand","authors":"Jatdilok Titioatchasai, Jeong Ha Kim, J. Mayakun","doi":"10.12982/cmjs.2024.015","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Territorial damselfi sh are herbivorous fi sh that help maintain algal diversity and abundance by aggressive territorial defense and algal farming. We investigated the effect of territorial damselfi sh on algal diversity and abundance on a reef at Ko Taen, Surat Thani Province, Thailand. Ten permanent patches (20 × 20 cm2) were set up inside and ten outside damselfi sh territory and monitored bimonthly. We found 22 macroalgal species with fi ve dominant species: Polysiphonia sp., Padina minor, Ulva compressa, Gelidium pusillum, and Lobophora variegata. The abundance of Polysiphonia sp. was signifi cantly higher inside damselfi sh territory than outside. In contrast, the abundances of Gelidium pusillum, Padina minor, and Ulva compressa were slightly higher outside the territory. It might be perhaps because their feeding behavior, territorial defense, and farming activities altered the benthic community. These damselfi shes exclude other herbivorous fi shes from their territories and remove unpalatable algae and maintain their algal food crop. For species diversity, there was no signifi cant difference between algal species diversity outside and inside damselfi sh territories. Our results indicated that damselfi shes have a strong effect on algal abundance and composition.","PeriodicalId":9884,"journal":{"name":"Chiang Mai Journal of Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Chiang Mai Journal of Science","FirstCategoryId":"103","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.12982/cmjs.2024.015","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Territorial damselfi sh are herbivorous fi sh that help maintain algal diversity and abundance by aggressive territorial defense and algal farming. We investigated the effect of territorial damselfi sh on algal diversity and abundance on a reef at Ko Taen, Surat Thani Province, Thailand. Ten permanent patches (20 × 20 cm2) were set up inside and ten outside damselfi sh territory and monitored bimonthly. We found 22 macroalgal species with fi ve dominant species: Polysiphonia sp., Padina minor, Ulva compressa, Gelidium pusillum, and Lobophora variegata. The abundance of Polysiphonia sp. was signifi cantly higher inside damselfi sh territory than outside. In contrast, the abundances of Gelidium pusillum, Padina minor, and Ulva compressa were slightly higher outside the territory. It might be perhaps because their feeding behavior, territorial defense, and farming activities altered the benthic community. These damselfi shes exclude other herbivorous fi shes from their territories and remove unpalatable algae and maintain their algal food crop. For species diversity, there was no signifi cant difference between algal species diversity outside and inside damselfi sh territories. Our results indicated that damselfi shes have a strong effect on algal abundance and composition.
期刊介绍:
The Chiang Mai Journal of Science is an international English language peer-reviewed journal which is published in open access electronic format 6 times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November by the Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University. Manuscripts in most areas of science are welcomed except in areas such as agriculture, engineering and medical science which are outside the scope of the Journal. Currently, we focus on manuscripts in biology, chemistry, physics, materials science and environmental science. Papers in mathematics statistics and computer science are also included but should be of an applied nature rather than purely theoretical. Manuscripts describing experiments on humans or animals are required to provide proof that all experiments have been carried out according to the ethical regulations of the respective institutional and/or governmental authorities and this should be clearly stated in the manuscript itself. The Editor reserves the right to reject manuscripts that fail to do so.