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A Comparison Of The Ichthyofaunal Trophic Ecology At Selected Limestone Artificial Reef Sites And Adjacent Natural Reef Sites, Joseph R. Hornbeck

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Artificial reefs may enhance the biological production of reef-associated flora and fauna, but their trophic structure relative to that of natural reefs remains understudied. We assessed trophic dynamics by comparing δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N in 43 fish species from artificial and natural reef tracts of Broward County, Florida. We tested the effect of sampling location (artificial, first, and second reef), general feeding strategy (herbivore, omnivore, planktivore, invertivore, and carnivore), phylogeny, and standard length. For all samples, δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N ranged from -19.5 to -13.1‰ and 6.7 to 13.3‰, respectively. Lower trophic level feeding …