![]() Primary producers form the foundations of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and serve as habitat and food for a plethora of organisms, but disease can threaten the provision of these critical ecosystem services. Thus, in addition to their well-known role as determinants of macroalgal overgrowth of reefs, herbivorous fish could thus also be important in control of diseases affecting crustose coralline algae that stabilize the foundation of coral reef substrata. Removal rates may be sufficient to allow CCA to recover from infection and explain historically observed natural waning behaviour after an outbreak. Furthermore, we recorded aβ~β600% increase in live CFD lesion size over an approximately 2-week period when grazing by herbivorous fish was experimentally excluded suggesting that herbivorous reef fish could control CFD progression by directly reducing biomass of the fungal pathogen. live scleractinian coral, CCA, or algae). We documented preferential grazing on fungal lesions by adults of six common reef-dwelling species of herbivorous Acanthuridae and Labridae, (surgeonfish and parrotfish) which collectively demonstrated anβ~β80-fold higher grazing rate on fungal lesions relative to their proportionate benthic coverage, and a preference for lesions over other palatable substrata (e.g. No natural controls for CFD have been identified, but nominally herbivorous fish could play a role by consuming pathogenic fungi. Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are ecologically important members of tropical reef systems and are impacted by coralline fungal disease (CFD) which manifests as overgrowth of the CCA crust by fungal lesions causing partial to complete mortality of the CCA host. Primary producers in terrestrial and marine systems can be affected by fungal pathogens threatening the provision of critical ecosystem services.
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