Environmental Change & Coral Reef Fishes

Coral reef fishes are facing a barrage of potential environmental stressors including warming, artificial light, ocean acidification, and coral and anemone bleaching. We’ve studied the effects of these factors on a range of species in various regions including the Great Barrier Reef, French Polynesia, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea.

Results to date suggest the effects of environmental stressors are highly context dependent and altered by physiological acclimation and transgenerational effects. For example, clownfish inhabited bleached anemones initially show an increase in metabolic rate, probably associated with stress, but over the course of months show depressed metabolism and growth rates.

Most recent work in this theme examines the interactive effects of artificial light and coral bleaching on fish thermal preference, social behaviour, and metabolism. Our work in this area is done in collaboration with the fantastic Suzie Mills and Ricardo Beldade, at CRIOBE (Moorea, French Polynesia).

Example Papers

Roost, T., Hargous, J., Van Espen, L., Schligler, J., Killen, SS, Beldade, R., Swearer, S.E. and Mills, S.C., 2025. Artificial light at night during early development directly affects embryonic but not larval quality in a wild coral reef fish. Conservation Physiology, 13(1), p.coaf041. PDF

Storm, Z., Meekan, MG, Eich, A, Speed, CW, Killen, SS, Lester, EK. In Press. Recovery of reef shark populations invokes anti-predator behaviours in mesopredatory reef fishes on a coral reef. Journal of Animal Ecology. 94:919–931. PDF

Bacchus, MD, Domenici, P, Killen, SS, McCormick, MI, Nadler, LE. 2024. Kinematic performance declines as group size increases during escape responses in a schooling coral reef fish. Frontiers in Fish Science. 1: 1294259.

Levet, M., Roche, DG, Killen, SS, Colosio, S, Bshary, R, Miest, J., Binning, SA. 2024. Energetic costs of mounting an immune response in a coral reef damselfish (Pomacentrus amboinensis). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 102: 380-392.

Tiddy, IC, Kaullysing, D, Bailey, DM, Killen, SS, Le Vin, A, Bhagooli, R. 2023. Effects of territorial damselfish on corallivorous fish assemblage composition and coral predation in the Mauritian lagoon. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 569: 151960

Cortese, D, Crespel, A, Mills, S, Norin, T, Killen, SS, Beldade, R. 2022. Adaptive effects of parental and developmental environments on offspring survival, growth and phenotype. Functional Ecology. 36: 2983– 2994.

Cortese, D, Crespel, A, Mills, S, Norin, T, Killen, SS, Beldade, R. In Press. Adaptive effects of parental and developmental environments on offspring survival, growth and phenotype. Functional Ecology. 00:00-00.

Tiddy, IC, Kaullysing, D, Bailey, DM, Chummun, PK, Killen, SS, Le Vin, A, Bhagooli, R. 2021. Outplanting of branching Acropora enhances recolonization of a fish species and protects massive corals from predation. Coral Reefs. 40:1549–1561.

Killen, SS, Nadler, LE, Grazioso, K, Cox, A, McCormick, MI. 2021. The effect of metabolic phenotype on sociability and social group size preference in a coral reef fish. Ecology and Evolution. 11:8585-8594. PDF

Cortese, D., Norin, T., Beldade, R., Crespel, A., Killen, S.S., Mills, S.. 2021. Physiological and behavioural effects of anemone bleaching on symbiont anemonefish in the wild. Functional Ecology. 00:1–11 PDF

Horwitz, R., Norin, T., Watson, S.-A., Pistevos, J., Beldade, R., Hacquart, S., Gattuso, J.-P., Rodolfo-Metalpa, R., Vidal-Dupiol, J., Killen, S.S., Mills, S. 2020. Near-future ocean warming and acidification alter foraging behaviour, locomotion, and metabolic rate in a keystone marine mollusc. Scientific Reports. 10: 5461. PDF

Nadler, L.E., Killen, S.S., Domenici, P., McCormick, M.I. 2018. Role of water flow regime in the swimming behaviour and escape performance of a schooling fish. Biology Open. 7, bio031997 PDF

Norin, T., Mills, S.C., Crespel, A., Cortese, D., Killen, S.S., Beldade, R. 2018. Heat-induced anemone bleaching increases the metabolic rate of symbiont anemonefish. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285: 20180282. PDF

Nadler, L.E., Killen, S.S., McCormick, M.I., Watson, S.-A., Munday, P.L. 2016. Effect of elevated carbon dioxide on shoal familiarity and metabolism in a coral reef fish. Conservation Physiology. 10.1093/conphys/cow052 PDF

Nadler, L.E., Killen, S.S., McClure, E.C., Munday, P.L., McCormick, M.I. 2016. Shoaling reduces metabolic rate in a gregarious coral reef fish species. Journal of Experimental Biology. 219: 2802-2805 doi: 10.1242/jeb.139493 PDF

Palacios, M., Killen, S.S., Nadler, L., White, J.R., McCormick, M.I. 2016. Top-predators negate the effect of mesopredators on prey physiology. Journal of Animal Ecology. 85: 1078–1086 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12523 PDF

Killen, S.S., Mitchell, M.D., Rummer, J.L., Chivers, D.P., Ferrari, M.C.O., Meekan, M., McCormick, M.I. 2014. Aerobic scope predicts dominance during early life in a tropical damselfish. Functional Ecology. 28: 1367–1376. PDF