https://commons.ru.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Index ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 https://commons.ru.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:5882 Thu 13 May 2021 05:49:20 SAST ]]> https://commons.ru.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:5877 1 yr in the absence of herbivores) and showed that sea urchins and browsing fishes were able to remove significant amounts of macroalgae where either herbivore was abundant. However, using multiple-choice selectivity assays and in situ video recordings, I found that browsing fishes fed very selectively with low overlap in diet among species, leading to low functional redundancy within a high diversity system. Finally, using long-term survey data (from 28 sites) to build a 43-year chronosequence, I showed that it is possible that the effects of herbivory will not be constant across transitions from open fishing to fishery closures through non-linear grazing intensity. Therefore, increases in herbivory within fisheries closures may not be immediate and may allow a window of opportunity for algae to go from turf to unpalatable macroalgae until scraping and browsing fishes fully recover from fishing (~ 20 years). The findings in this thesis are novel and raise concern over the potential implications of the slow recovery of parrotfishes or, given lower than expected functional redundancy in grazing effects, the absence of even one browsing fish species in fisheries closures. Overall, this thesis highlights the importance of herbivore community dynamics in mediating interactions among algae, and provides new insights for conservation and management actions that attempt to bolster the resilience of coral reefs.]]> Thu 13 May 2021 04:09:10 SAST ]]> https://commons.ru.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:5846 Thu 13 May 2021 03:19:43 SAST ]]>