ArticleScience advances2021
Offshore pelagic subsidies dominate carbon inputs to coral reef predators.
Article in Science advances, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Predator-mediated trophic connectivity between reef and oceanic habitats in Palau.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026Article
- Missing planktivore functions drive global variation in reef fish productivity.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Article
- Carbon pathways and trophic attributes are conserved in carnivorous reef fishes across a major human disturbance gradient.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Reimagining land system science in seascapes.Landscape ecology · 2026Review
- Predators can facilitate herbivory in nutrient-limited marine ecosystems.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Seabird-derived nutrients influence feeding pathways and body size in cryptobenthic reef fishes.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Trophic distribution of nutrient production in coral reef fisheries.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Ocean currents magnify upwelling and deliver nutritional subsidies to reef-building corals during El Niño heatwaves.Science advances · 2023Article
- Linking variation in planktonic primary production to coral reef fish growth and condition.Royal Society open science · 2022Article
- Bulk and amino acid nitrogen isotopes suggest shifting nitrogen balance of pregnant sharks across gestation.Oecologia · 2022Article
- Seabird diversity and biomass enhance cross-ecosystem nutrient subsidies.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Conservation implications of forage base requirements of a marine predator population at carrying capacity.iScience · 2022Article
- Spatial subsidies drive sweet spots of tropical marine biomass production.PLoS biology · 2021Article
- Multi-trophic markers illuminate the understanding of the functioning of a remote, low coral cover Marquesan coral reef food web.Scientific reports · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Coral reefs were traditionally perceived as productive hot spots in oligotrophic waters. While modern evidence indicates that many coral reef food webs are heavily subsidized by planktonic production, the pathways through which this occurs remain unresolved. We used the analytical power of carbon isotope analysis of essential amino acids to distinguish between alternative carbon pathways supporting four key reef predators across an oceanic atoll. This technique separates benthic versus planktonic inputs, further identifying two distinct planktonic pathways (nearshore reef-associated plankton and offshore pelagic plankton), and revealing that these reef predators are overwhelmingly sustained by offshore pelagic sources rather than by reef sources (including reef-associated plankton). Notably, pelagic reliance did not vary between species or reef habitats, emphasizing that allochthonous energetic subsidies may have system-wide importance. These results help explain how coral reefs maintain exceptional productivity in apparently nutrient-poor tropical settings, but also emphasize their susceptibility to future ocean productivity fluctuations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.