We conducted a meta-analysis to summarize current knowledge on the effects of environmental and ecological drivers on the abundance of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) within the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. We reviewed 1252 published research articles and extracted or calculated effect sizes for 12 drivers from 82 independent studies within 26 articles that met our inclusion criteria. We used a fixed-effect model to calculate the absolute value of the mean effect size of each driver by age class studied and pooled across age classes to estimate effects on the overall abundance of red snapper. Habitat complexity and intra-specific competition had large effects on overall abundance and juvenile abundance, while habitat type and protection from predators showed medium to large effects on age 0 recruits and juvenile red snapper, and the mean effect of all drivers studied for adult red snapper were small or had no effect on abundance. Our results provide systematic support for the role of density-dependent mechanisms (habitat quality and availability, competition, predation) in shaping the regional abundance of red snapper, particularly during the juvenile stages. Sensitivity analyses indicated that issues with non-independence (e.g. within-article correlation), between-study heterogeneity, and publication bias influenced the magnitude and certainty of effect size estimates in a subset of drivers. Thus, our meta-analytical review also highlights the need for more empirical research on certain drivers (e.g. temperature, hypoxia) to improve our understanding of the factors that shape the regional abundance of red snapper.

中文翻译：

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环境和生态驱动因素对美国墨西哥湾红鲷鱼 (Lutjanus campechanus) 丰度影响的元分析综述

我们进行了一项荟萃分析，以总结当前关于环境和生态驱动因素对美国墨西哥湾红鲷鱼 (Lutjanus campechanus) 丰度影响的知识。我们审查了 1252 篇已发表的研究文章，并从 26 篇符合我们纳入标准的文章中的 82 项独立研究中提取或计算了 12 个驱动因素的影响大小。我们使用固定效应模型来计算按年龄组研究的每个驱动程序的平均效应大小的绝对值，并在各个年龄组中汇总，以估计对红鲷鱼整体丰度的影响。栖息地复杂性和种内竞争对总体丰度和幼鱼丰度有很大影响，而栖息地类型和对捕食者的保护对 0 岁新兵和幼年红鲷鱼有中到大的影响，研究成年红鲷鱼的所有驱动因素的平均影响很小或对丰度没有影响。我们的研究结果为密度依赖机制（栖息地质量和可用性、竞争、捕食）在塑造红鲷鱼的区域丰度中的作用提供了系统支持，特别是在幼年阶段。敏感性分析表明，非独立性（例如文章内相关性）、研究间异质性和发表偏倚的问题影响了驱动子子集中效应量估计的幅度和确定性。因此，我们的元分析审查还强调需要对某些驱动因素（例如温度、缺氧）进行更多的实证研究，以提高我们对影响红鲷鱼区域丰度的因素的理解。