TY - JOUR T1 - Diurnal temporal patterns of the diversity and the abundance of reef fishes in a branching coral patch in New Caledonia A1 - Mallet,Delphine A1 - Vigliola,Laurent A1 - Wantiez,Laurent A1 - Pelletier,Dominique AD - IFREMER, Unite Rech Lagons Ecosyst & Aquaculture Durable N, Noumea, New Caledonia. AD - Univ Nouvelle Caledonie, EA LIVE 4243, Noumea, New Caledonia. AD - IRD, UMR ENTROPIE, Lab Excellence LABEX Corail, Noumea, New Caledonia. AD - Lab Excellence LABEX Corail, Perpignan, France. UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12360 DO - 10.1111/aec.12360 KW - coral reef fish KW - high-frequency sampling KW - patterns KW - temporal variation KW - underwater video N2 - Small-scale spatial and temporal variability in animal abundance is an intrinsic characteristic of marine ecosystems but remains largely unknown for most animals, including coral reef fishes. In this study, we used a remote autonomous unbaited video system and recorded reef fish assemblages during daylight hours, 10 times a day for 34 consecutive days in a branching coral patch of the lagoon of New Caledonia. In total, 50 031 fish observations belonging to 114 taxa, 66 genera and 31 families were recorded in 256 recorded videos. Carnivores and herbivore-detritus feeders dominated the trophic structure. We found significant variations in the composition of fish assemblages between times of day. Taxa richness and fish abundance were greater in the early morning and in the late afternoon than during the day. Fourteen taxa displayed well-defined temporal patterns in abundance with one taxon influenced by time of day, six influenced by tidal state and seven influenced by both time of day and tidal state. None of these 14 taxa were piscivores, 10 were herbivore-detritus feeders, three were carnivores and one was plankton feeder. Our results suggest a diel migration from feeding grounds to shelter areas and highlight the importance of taking into account small-scale temporal variability in animal diversity and abundance when studying connectivity between habitats and monitoring communities. Y1 - 2016/11 PB - Wiley-blackwell JF - Austral Ecology SN - 1442-9985 VL - 41 IS - 7 SP - 733 EP - 744 ID - 43755 ER -