TrackdAT, an acoustic telemetry metadata dataset to support aquatic animal tracking research.

Data on the movement and space use of aquatic animals are crucial to understand complex interactions among biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and facilitate effective conservation and management. Acoustic telemetry (AT) is a leading method for studying the movement ecology of aquatic animals worldwide, yet the ability to efficiently access study information from AT research is currently lacking, limiting advancements in its application. Here, we describe TrackdAT, an open-source metadata dataset where AT research parameters are catalogued to provide scientists, managers, and other stakeholders with the ability to efficiently identify and evaluate existing peer-reviewed research. Extracted metadata encompasses key information about biological and technical aspects of research, providing a comprehensive summary of existing AT research. TrackdAT currently hosts information from 2,412 journal articles published from 1969 to 2022 spanning 614 species and 380,289 tagged animals. TrackdAT has the potential to enable regional and global mobilization of knowledge, increased opportunities for collaboration, greater stakeholder engagement, and optimization of future ecological research.

Habitat zonation on coral reefs: Structural complexity, nutritional resources and herbivorous fish distributions.

Distinct zonation of community assemblages among habitats is a ubiquitous feature of coral reefs. The distribution of roving herbivorous fishes (parrotfishes, surgeonfishes and rabbitfishes) is a particularly clear example, with the abundance of these fishes generally peaking in shallow-water, high-energy habitats, regardless of the biogeographic realm. Yet, our understanding of the factors which structure this habitat partitioning, especially with regards to different facets of structural complexity and nutritional resource availability, is limited. To address this issue, we used three-dimensional photogrammetry and structure-from-motion technologies to describe five components of structural complexity (rugosity, coral cover, verticality, refuge density and field-of-view) and nutritional resource availability (grazing surface area) among habitats and considered how these factors are related to herbivorous fish distributions. All complexity metrics (including coral cover) were highest on the slope and crest. Nutritional resource availability differed from this general pattern and peaked on the outer-flat. Unexpectedly, when compared to the distribution of herbivorous fishes, none of the complexity metrics had a marked influence in the models. However, grazing surface area was a strong predictor of both the abundance and biomass of herbivorous fishes. The strong relationship between grazing surface area and herbivorous fish distributions indicates that nutritional resource availability may be one of the primary factors driving the distribution of roving herbivorous fishes. The lack of a relationship between complexity and herbivorous fishes, and a strong affinity of herbivorous fishes for low-complexity, algal turf-dominated outer-flat habitats, offers some cautious optimism that herbivory may be sustained on future, low-complexity, algal turf-dominated reef configurations.