Overview
- Published in Nature, the study compares mid-Holocene fossil reefs with nearby modern sites in Panama and the Dominican Republic using nitrogen isotopes preserved in otoliths and corals.
- Researchers find modern food chains are sharply compressed, with higher-trophic fishes feeding lower and low-level fishes shifting up in both regions.
- Dietary variation within fish families has contracted by about 20–70%, indicating homogenized diets across gobies, silversides, cardinalfishes and grunts.
- Most focal species are not targeted by fisheries, pointing to ecosystem-wide shifts associated with predator loss, habitat degradation, warming and nutrient runoff.
- The team analyzed 136 otoliths and dozens of corals, and reports that reefs under tighter fishing controls in Panama show pockets of healthier food webs that could guide monitoring and restoration.