TY - JOUR T1 - Global tropical reef fish richness could decline by around half if corals are lost A1 - Strona,Giovanni A1 - Lafferty,Kevin D. A1 - Fattorini,Simone A1 - Beck,Pieter S. A. A1 - Guilhaumon,François A1 - Arrigoni,Roberto A1 - Montano,Simone A1 - Seveso,Davide A1 - Galli,Paolo A1 - Planes,Serge A1 - Parravicini,Valeriano AD - Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Finland AD - U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center c/o Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA AD - Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, Italy AD - European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy AD - MARBEC, IRD, CNRS, University of Montpellier, Ifremer, France AD - IRD, Saint-Denis de la Réunion, France AD - Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms (BEOM), Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy AD - Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milan - Bicocca, Italy AD - MaRHE Center (Marine Research and High Education Center), Republic of Maldives AD - PSL Research University: EPHE-UPVD-CNRS, USR 3278 CRIOBE, Université de Perpignan, France UR - https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00703/81516/ DO - 10.1098/rspb.2021.0274 KW - bleaching KW - co-extinctions KW - ocean warming KW - structural equation modelling N2 - Reef fishes are a treasured part of marine biodiversity, and also provide needed protein for many millions of people. Although most reef fishes might survive projected increases in ocean temperatures, corals are less tolerant. A few fish species strictly depend on corals for food and shelter, suggesting that coral extinctions could lead to some secondary fish extinctions. However, secondary extinctions could extend far beyond those few coral-dependent species. Furthermore, it is yet unknown how such fish declines might vary around the world. Current coral mass mortalities led us to ask how fish communities would respond to coral loss within and across oceans. We mapped 6964 coral-reef-fish species and 119 coral genera, and then regressed reef-fish species richness against coral generic richness at the 1° scale (after controlling for biogeographic factors that drive species diversification). Consistent with small-scale studies, statistical extrapolations suggested that local fish richness across the globe would be around half its current value in a hypothetical world without coral, leading to more areas with low or intermediate fish species richness and fewer fish diversity hotspots. Y1 - 2021/06 PB - The Royal Society JF - Proceedings Of The Royal Society B-biological Sciences SN - 0962-8452 VL - 288 IS - 1953 ID - 81516 ER -