Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40940443›Full record

Articlenpj biodiversity2025

Near complete local extinction of iconic anemonefish and their anemone hosts following a heat stress event.

Morgan F Bennett-Smith, Helena Villela, Micaela S S Justo, Viktor Nunes Peinemann, Michael L Berumen, Susana Carvalho, Neus Garcias-Bonet, Francisca C García, Melissa Versteeg, Theresa Rueger and 2 more

Erratum issuedAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in npj biodiversity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Estimating the total mortality of seabirds following a marine heat wave.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Morgan F Bennett-SmithBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. mfbsmith@bu.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7681-8939
Helena VillelaBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0052-503X
Micaela S S JustoBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1063-8115
Viktor Nunes PeinemannBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7060-397X
Michael L BerumenBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2463-2742
Susana CarvalhoBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1300-1953
Neus Garcias-BonetBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6469-7167
Francisca C GarcíaBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5363-1015
Melissa VersteegDove Marine Laboratory, School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5957-9067
Theresa RuegerDove Marine Laboratory, School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2105-6412
Peter M BustonDepartment of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5513-8259
Raquel S PeixotoBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. raquel.peixoto@kaust.edu.sa.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9536-3132

Funding

National Science Foundation award no. 2333286The Explorers Club Exploration Grant Fund
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A fundamental question in modern-day ecology is: How will populations and their interactions respond to a rapidly changing climate? Documenting local collapses of ecologically and economically important populations can offer insight into broader patterns of decline. Here, we monitored anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) and their host sea anemones (Radianthus magnifica) on three central Saudi Arabian Red Sea reefs from 2022 to 2024, including a 2023 marine heatwave that peaked at a Degree Heating Weeks (DHW) value of ~22 °C-weeks. Across all reefs, we observed a sequence of 100% anemone bleaching, 94.3-100% anemonefish mortality, and 66.4-94.1% anemone mortality. We compare these findings to other recent Indo-Pacific heat stress events of varying intensity, where similar declines were not observed. Our study highlights the vulnerability of mutualistic reef species to extreme heat and suggests that such events may drive local, if not regional, extinctions of ecologically important symbioses.

Identifiers

PMID40940443
PMCPMC12432162

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.