Herbivory is a key process that controls the abundance and accumulation of algal turf on tropical coral reefs. The capacity of reefs to prevent algal accumulation hinges on the balance between algal production and consumption (i.e., grazing). In this study, we quantify algal turf biomass accumulation and grazing using experimental substrata and herbivore exclusion cages across sites in Kenya that represent different levels of fisheries management: heavily fished reefs, community marine-protected areas less than 10 yr old, and older government-managed marine-protected areas. These reefs had different assemblages of grazing herbivores with fished reefs being dominated by sea urchins, while government closures had a high abundance of grazing fishes, in particular parrotfishes. The community fisheries closures had an intermediate mix of sea urchins and grazing fishes, with the latter dominated by surgeonfishes. These management regimes mediated algal biomass on experimental substrata such that urchins consumed as much as 90% on fished reefs and fishes as much as 96% at the government marine-protected areas by the end of the 390-d trial. The younger community fisheries closures lacked the herbivory to significantly reduce algal biomass, and consumption was less than 50% of production and never greater than 2 g algae m −2 d −1 . These findings point to the importance of recovery dynamics of herbivorous fishes from heavy fishing pressure. They also suggest that while sea urchins might be effective grazers to prevent macroalgal dominance, they are not a functional replacement for fishes due to their ability to reduce reef accretion through bioerosion and prevent settlement of crustose coralline algae in this system.

中文翻译：

---

海胆和鱼类对藻类草皮的消耗是由肯尼亚珊瑚礁的渔业管理调节的

食草是控制热带珊瑚礁上藻类草皮丰度和积累的关键过程。珊瑚礁阻止藻类积累的能力取决于藻类生产和消费（即放牧）之间的平衡。在这项研究中，我们在肯尼亚代表不同渔业管理水平的地点使用实验基质和食草动物排除网箱量化藻类草皮生物量的积累和放牧：重度捕捞的珊瑚礁、不到 10 年的社区海洋保护区和较老的政府-受管理的海洋保护区。这些珊瑚礁有不同的放牧食草动物组合，捕捞的珊瑚礁以海胆为主，而政府关闭的放牧鱼类，特别是鹦鹉鱼的数量很高。社区渔业关闭有海胆和放牧鱼的中间混合，后者以刺尾鱼为主。这些管理制度调节了实验基质上的藻类生物量，因此到 390 天试验结束时，海胆在捕捞的珊瑚礁上消耗了多达 90% 的鱼类，在政府海洋保护区消耗了多达 96% 的鱼类。较年轻的社区渔业关闭缺乏显着减少藻类生物量的食草动物，消耗量低于产量的 50%，且从不超过 2 g 藻类 m -2 d -1 。这些发现指出了草食性鱼类从沉重的捕捞压力中恢复动态的重要性。他们还提出，虽然海胆可能是防止大型藻类占优势的有效食草动物，