Functional traits reveal the presence and nature of multiple processes in the assembly of marine fish communities

Functional traits can be used to identify the importance of various community assembly mechanisms such as ecological drift, environmental filtering, and limiting similarity. These processes act in concert, not isolation, and different processes may act upon separate traits, potentially concealing the ecological signal of one or more of the mechanisms. Nine functional attributes of marine fish were used to identify changes in the importance of various mechanisms in the assembly of marine fish communities over a latitudinal gradient along the Western Australian coast. Complementary null modelling approaches were used to test the relative importance of assembly processes (ecological drift, environmental filtering, and limiting similarity) in structuring fish communities. Ecological drift was found to be a major driver of the structure of fish communities, and dispersal limitation was strongest in the tropical region, with homogenising dispersal strongest in the temperate region. Dispersion of functional traits identified environmental filtering acting on most traits incorporated in this study, in addition to limiting similarity acting on traits associated with acquisition of trophic resources. The coexistence of Western Australian marine fishes thus results from concurrent ecological drift, environmental filtering, and limiting similarity structuring the communities. The observed ecological drift may be the result of priority effects and/or context-dependent biotic interactions. Both niche complementarity and predator avoidance may be the drivers of the observed limiting similarity in the communities.