Florida’s coastal ecosystems are undergoing rapid ecological changes driven by rising sea surface temperatures and shifting habitat distributions, leading to the tropicalization of species assemblages. One example of this phenomenon is the poleward expansion of mangroves into historically saltmarsh-dominated regions, particularly along Florida’s east coast. These habitat transitions have unknown consequences for fish community composition, trophic dynamics, and habitat utilization, with important implications for coastal fisheries and estuarine ecosystem function. This dissertation investigates how tropicalization and changing benthic environments affect coastal fish communities across scales. Chapter 1 examines long-term shifts in fish community distributions and identifies environmental drivers of these changes. Chapter 2 explores fish community structure within a saltmarsh-mangrove ecotone to evaluate how this dynamic transition zone influences species composition. Chapter 3 quantifies trophic dynamics across habitats with varying proportions of mangrove and saltmarsh cover, and Chapter 4 assesses how key sportfish species utilize benthic habitats across the ecotone. By integrating community-level and species-specific analyses with environmental data, this research will provide a comprehensive understanding of how habitat shifts impact fish ecology. The findings will support adaptive management strategies for conserving ecologically and economically important fish populations in the face of ongoing climate-driven tropicalization.
Meredith Pratt
Dr. Geoffrey Cook, Advisor
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