Social information obtained from heterospecifics can enhance individual fitness by reducing environmental uncertainty, making it an important driver of mixed-species grouping behavior. Heterospecific groups are well documented among fishes, yet are notably more prevalent among juveniles than more advanced life stages, implying that the adaptive value of joining other species is greater during this developmental period. We propose this phenomenon can be explained by the heightened ecological relevance of heterospecifically-produced cues pertaining to predation risk and or resources, as body-size uniformity inherent in early ontogeny yields greater overlap in predator and prey guild membership across juveniles of disparate taxa. To evaluate the putative role of information in shaping juvenile fish assemblages, we employed a joint species distribution model (JSDM), identifying non-random relationships among fishes collected in 785 seine hauls within the shallow littoral zones of a subtropical island. After accounting for species-environment relationships, which explained 39% of observed covariation in the abundance of 11 taxa, we detected high rates of positive association (84% of significant correlations) predominantly between mutual foraging guild members, consistent with assemblage patterns predicted to evolve under widespread interspecific information use. Affiliations occurred primarily between species characterized by neutral (i.e., non-interacting) or negative (i.e., predator-prey) relationships in later life stages, supporting the notion that heightened niche overlap due to body size homogeneity acted to increase the pertinence of information among juveniles. Taxa exerted varying degrees of influence on assemblage structure, however Eucinostomus spp., a gregarious generalist with exceptional information-production potential, had an effect several times that of all other species combined, further evidencing the likely role of information in motivating observed relationships. Co-occurrence and qualitative behavioral data inferred from remote underwater video surveys reinforced these conclusions. Collectively, these results suggest that positive interactions linked to information exchange are among the principal factors organizing juvenile fish assemblages at local scales, highlighting the role of ontogeny in mediating the relevance and exploitation of information across species.

中文翻译：

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与社会信息使用一致的正种间关联塑造幼鱼组合

从异种物种获得的社会信息可以通过减少环境不确定性来增强个体适应性，使其成为混合物种分组行为的重要驱动因素。鱼类中的异种群体有据可查，但在幼鱼中比更高级的生命阶段更为普遍，这意味着在这个发育时期加入其他物种的适应性价值更大。我们认为这种现象可以通过与捕食风险和/或资源有关的异种特异性产生的线索的生态相关性增强来解释，因为早期个体发育中固有的体型均匀性在不同分类群的幼体中捕食者和猎物公会成员中产生更大的重叠。为了评估信息在塑造幼鱼组合中的假定作用，我们采用了联合物种分布模型 (JSDM)，确定了在亚热带岛屿浅海沿岸地区的 785 条围网中收集的鱼类之间的非随机关系。在考虑了物种 - 环境关系后，解释了 11 个分类群丰度中观察到的协变的 39%，我们检测到主要在相互觅食公会成员之间的高正相关率（显着相关的 84%），与预测进化的组合模式一致在广泛的种间信息使用下。从属关系主要发生在以中性（即非相互作用）或负性（即捕食者-猎物）关系为特征的生命后期的物种之间，支持由于体型同质性而导致生态位重叠增加的观点，这有助于增加青少年信息的相关性。分类群对组合结构施加了不同程度的影响，但是 Eucinostomus spp. 是一种具有特殊信息生产潜力的群居多面手，其影响是所有其他物种总和的数倍，进一步证明了信息在激发观察到的关系方面的可能作用。从远程水下视频调查中推断出的共现和定性行为数据加强了这些结论。总的来说，这些结果表明，与信息交流相关的积极互动是在当地范围内组织幼鱼群落的主要因素之一，