Functional-biogeography of the reef fishes of the islands of the Gulf of California: Integrating functional divergence into marine conservation

Abstract

The Gulf of California (GC) is a semi-closed sea in the Tropical Eastern Pacific and is recognised as a highly diverse marine ecosystem. Despite this status, this region is still poorly studied in comparison to other marine hotspots. To start filling this gap, we attempt to provide a global overview of reef-fish diversity around the numerous islands of the region. We evaluated species richness, the abundance and biomass, and the functional diversity of the fish assemblages for the major islands of the GC. We first highlight that the southwestern part of the central GC is the hotspot of reef-fishes diversity within the GC, in terms of species richness, functional diversity, and fish abundance. We then found out an important functional divergence between fish assemblages of northern and southern regions. The fish biomass of each region is dominated by different species, characterised by different ecological traits (the opposite of functional convergence). This functional divergence may be explained by an important oceanographic heterogeneity along the latitudinal axis of the GC. The northern part shows larger climate fluctuations while the southern part is more tropical and climatically stable. Such functional divergence is a biodiversity facet to take into account when determining the sites to focus conservation action. In the GC, this criterion allows the importance of some sites to be highlighted to preserve the legacy of the reef-fishes, despite their lower diversity levels. Keywords: Biodiversity, Biologically important area, Functional traits, Marine protected area, Sea of Cortez, Tropical Eastern Pacific