Coral reef food webs are highly vulnerable to species loss

To understand the functioning of ecosystems and their flows of matter and energy, it is essential to know the architecture of these ecosystems. This architecture consists of trophic interactions between organisms that determine the exchange of energy and nutrients within the system. For particularly rich ecological systems, such as coral reefs, our knowledge of the food web structure is still only partial. In the scientific literature, it was commonly accepted that most reef fishes were generalists. However, a new study, in which our colleague Mireille Harmelin participated, published in the journal PNAS, suggests that fish tend to be specialists (feeding on a limited combination of prey) and that their disappearance could pose a threat to the overall productivity of this ecosystem.

PNAS Publication