Fig. 4: Synthesis of reconstructed trophic changes.
From: Fossil isotope evidence for trophic simplification on modern Caribbean reefs
a, Trophic simplification of modern Caribbean coral reefs. Community patterns in MTL and FCL for the mid-Holocene (left) and modern (right) coral reefs. In the modern reef, FCL declines, whereas community MTL is relatively stable compared with in the fossil reef. b, Decreased family-level dietary diversity in modern populations. Individual-fish-level foraging patterns affect family-level isotopic niche width (that is, diet-driven δ15N diversity). Consuming prey items in common with other fish individuals increases their isotopic similarity to one another, and this isotopic similarity also reflects a homogenization of functional roles and energy flow pathways on coral reefs today. By contrast, fish on mid-Holocene reefs, owing to higher specialization and less overlap, supplied a greater diversity of unique pathways by which energy could enter coral reef food webs. As a greater diversity of energy channels is known to increase food web stability, the loss of heterogeneity on modern reefs may reduce ecosystem stability. Fish silhouettes in a and b reproduced from ref. 51, GitHub, under a GPL-2 license.
