Fish Habitat Project:
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Seagrass beds and coral reefs are prime source areas for fisheries worldwide because they serve as habitats for fish assemblages. This study addresses the question of how and why these two habitats are able to successfully maintain fish assemblages.
Two important but under-studied factors are considered in this study: (1) habitat structural complexity, and (2) the effect of different but adjacent habitats; for example, the effect of neighboring coral reefs on the fish community in seagrass, and vice versa. Both have been observed to drive fish assemblages and abundance through their influence on the behaviour, feeding, migration and reproduction of many fish species. However, previous studies have not considered these two factors in combination, and not in an integrative way for seagrass meadows and coral reefs. |
Without evidence for how tropical seagrass meadows in the South China Sea function in maintaining fish diversity and abundance, it is difficult to convince policy makers and the general public that seagrass meadows should be given equal consideration as coral reefs in the conservation agenda - more so for the subtidal seagrass meadows in our study area that are made out of small, low-standing species. Our study showed that these meadows are significant fish habitats, especially for commercially important carnivores (Ho et al, 2018).
This project is part of Nina Ho Ann Jin's MSc work, and is funded by the University of Malaya Research Grant RG 200-12SUS (2013 - 2016). Nina is jointly supervised by Jillian Ooi, Affendi Yang Amri, and Prof. Chong Ving Ching. The outputs of this project are important for calling attention to the functional role of seagrass as rich habitats, which often receive less consideration for protection and conservation than other coastal habitats. |