How do tropical seagrass beds function as habitats for fishies?

2002年8月和11月，为了确定热带海草床的鱼类组合结构及其与邻近珊瑚和沙区的结构有何不同，我们在日本伊洛摩特岛的阿米托里湾进行了目测普查。在每个生境（海草床、珊瑚区和沙区）建立5个1m×20m样带，对样带内所有鱼类进行计数。珊瑚区鱼类的种类和个体数均高于海草床和沙区。为明确海草叶片密度和高度变化对热带海草床中常见海草种类——钩翼鱼（Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus）的增收影响，采用人工海草单元（ASUs）进行了野外试验，包括：(1)长密叶（lp -units），(2)长叶减薄至约40%的lp -unit密度，(3)密叶缩短至40%的lp -unit高度，(4)无叶（对照）。连续14天每天统计每个亚利桑那州立大学的新兵。在ld -单元上，每个重复的平均征召数显著大于其他单元类型，说明较长较密的海草叶片对该物种的征召有显著影响。

To determine fish assemblage structure in tropical seagrass beds and how its structure differs from those in adjacent coral and sand areas, visual censuses were conducted at Amitori Bay, Iriomote Island, Japan, in August and November 2002. five 1m×20m transects were established at each habitat (seagrass bed, coral area, and sand area), and all fishes within the transect area were counted.the numbers of species and individuals of fishes were higher in the coral area than in the seagrass bed and sand area.To clarify the effects of changes in seagrass leaf density and height on recruitment of the cardinalfish Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus, which is a common species in troical seagrass beds, a field experiment using artificial seagrass units (ASUs, including (1)long dense leaves (LD-units), (2)long leaves thinned to about 40% of LD-unit density, (3)dense leaves shortened to 40% of LD-unit height, and (4)no leaves (control), were used, recruits on each ASU being counted daily over 14 consecutive days. The mean number of C. Quinquelineatus recruits per replicate on LD-units was significantly greater than on the other unit types, indicating that longer denser seagrass leaves had a significant impact on recruitment of the species.