Abstract
Tracking studies for invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) in the Western Atlantic can provide key information on habitat use to inform population control, but to date have likely underestimated home range size and movement due to constrained spatial and temporal scales. We tracked 35 acoustically tagged lionfish for >1 yr (March 2018-May 2019) within a 35 km2 acoustic array in Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands (an area 10× larger than previous studies). Tracking lionfish at this scale revealed that home range size is 3-20 times larger than previously estimated and varies more than 8-fold across individuals (~48000-379000 m2; average: 101000 m2), with estimates insensitive to assumptions about potential mortality for low-movement individuals. Lionfish move far greater distances than previously reported, with 37% of fish traveling >1 km from the initial tagging site toward deeper habitats, and 1 individual moving ~10 km during a 10 d period. Movement rates, home range size, and maximum distance traveled were not related to lionfish size (18-35 cm total length) or lunar phase. Lionfish movement was lowest at night and greatest during crepuscular periods, with fish acceleration (m s-2) increasing with water temperature during these times. Our results help reconcile observed patterns of rapid recolonization following lionfish removal, and suggest complex drivers likely result in highly variable patterns of movement for similarly sized fish occupying the same habitat. Culling areas ≥ the average lionfish home range size identified here (i.e. ~10 ha) or habitat patches isolated by ≥ ~180 m (radius of average home range) may minimize subsequent recolonization. If the shallow-deep long-distance movements observed here are unidirectional, mesophotic habitats may require culling at relatively greater frequencies to counteract ongoing migration.
Highlights
Understanding patterns and drivers of animal movement is a fundamental pursuit in ecology with important conservation and management implications (Börger et al 2008, van Beest et al 2011)
We identified highly restricted detections by first home range generated from telemetry data (Klinard calculating the maximum distance a stationary tag & Matley 2020)
We used a paired t-test to test for differences between the home range size for each individual generated from the high survival and low survival scenarios for 50 and 95% UDs separately
Summary
Understanding patterns and drivers of animal movement is a fundamental pursuit in ecology with important conservation and management implications (Börger et al 2008, van Beest et al 2011). P. miles) into coastal marine habitats in the Tropical Western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea represents a conservation issue for which information on the species’ movement patterns and home range size is urgently needed to inform ongoing management. Invasive lionfish have detrimental ecological effects on coral reef ecosystems, highlighting the need for ongoing, targeted population management (reviews of the issue by Côté et al 2013, Hixon et al 2016, Côté & Smith 2018). Numerous studies have highlighted the localized effects of predation by lionfish on the recruitment, survival, biomass, and diversity of native fish species at high densities Information on patterns and drivers of lionfish movement in invaded habitats would help to identify the scale and frequency of culling required to meet management targets for suppression. Previous studies of lionfish habitat use and movement have varied greatly in detection methods and (estimated)
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