The influence of tourism-based provisioning on fish behavior and benthic composition

摘要: Distribution of non-natural food (provisioning) to attract fish, though popular in coral reef tourism, has often been discouraged due its assumed adverse effects on fish health and behavior. However, the provisioning community structure, anti-predator, foraging behavior teleost fishes, as well their potential indirectly affect benthic organisms, are not yet clear. Here, we compared composition, wariness, herbivorous cover between provisioned control sites. We found significant differences abundance, species number, composition at some locations, but all. Although most did reduce biting rates algae, sites still had higher coverage green macroalgae. Our results dispute widely held presumptions tourism-based ecology cover. These findings suggest that while regulation is necessary manage mitigate any deleterious outcomes, when moderated monitored, it could provide an educationally beneficial tool for ecotourism.