Abstract

This talk will present an overview of a major review to be published in /Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review/ in June 2008. The purpose of this review was to assess ecological and economic effects of climate change on coral reef fishes. Coral reef habitats are very vulnerable to sustained and ongoing climate change, mainly due to thermal senstivities of reef building corals. Climate change and coral bleaching has had significant effects on coral reef fishes, especially those species that live, feed or recruit on live corals. Coral bleaching and associated habitat-degradation has caused localised declines in many fish species, which may make them increasingly vulnerable to further climatic and anthropogenic disturbances. However, there are few reported incidences of species extinctions resulting from severe and widespread coral bleaching, which is attributed to ecological compensation among coral reef fishes.