ArticlePLoS biology2021
Spatial subsidies drive sweet spots of tropical marine biomass production.
Article in PLoS biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Missing planktivore functions drive global variation in reef fish productivity.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Quantifying coral reef-ocean interactions is critical for predicting reef futures under climate change.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Species abundances surpass richness effects in the biodiversity-ecosystem function relationship across marine fishes.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Supporting resilience-based coral reef management using broadscale threshold approaches.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Nutrient connectivity via seabirds enhances dynamic measures of coral reef ecosystem function.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Relative abundance and diversity of sharks and predatory fishes across Marine Protected Areas of the Tropical Eastern Pacific.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Local human impacts disrupt depth-dependent zonation of tropical reef fish communities.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- The evolution of fast-growing coral reef fishes.Nature · 2023Article
- The role of nocturnal fishes on coral reefs: A quantitative functional evaluation.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Functional trade-offs in fish communities.Nature ecology & evolution · 2022Article
- Seabird diversity and biomass enhance cross-ecosystem nutrient subsidies.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Spatial subsidies increase local productivity and boost consumer abundance beyond the limits imposed by local resources. In marine ecosystems, deeper water and open ocean subsidies promote animal aggregations and enhance biomass that is critical for human harvesting. However, the scale of this phenomenon in tropical marine systems remains unknown. Here, we integrate a detailed assessment of biomass production in 3 key locations, spanning a major biodiversity and abundance gradient, with an ocean-scale dataset of fish counts to predict the extent and magnitude of plankton subsidies to fishes on coral reefs. We show that planktivorous fish-mediated spatial subsidies are widespread across the Indian and Pacific oceans and drive local spikes in biomass production that can lead to extreme productivity, up to 30 kg ha-1 day-1. Plankton subsidies form the basis of productivity "sweet spots" where planktivores provide more than 50% of the total fish production, more than all other trophic groups combined. These sweet spots operate at regional, site, and smaller local scales. By harvesting oceanic productivity, planktivores bypass spatial constraints imposed by local primary productivity, creating "oases" of tropical fish biomass that are accessible to humans.
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