
Bruno FrederichUniversity of Liège | ulg · Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology
Bruno Frederich
Professor
About
101
Publications
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Introduction
My research interests focus on the patterns and mechanisms of diversification in marine fishes. Along my works, I aim to understand the factors that govern functional, morphological and ecological diversity in space and time at community, species, and population levels. My research approach is interdisciplinary and quantitative. I collect ecological data in the field (e.g. habitat, diet); identify and quantify morpho-functional diversity (e.g. morphometrics, biomechanics, kinematics); construct evolutionary trees; use models of trait evolution and test evolutionary hypotheses using comparative methods (models and statistics in R).
Additional affiliations
March 2018 - present
Publications
Publications (101)
A core eco‐evolutionary aim is to better understand the factors driving the diversification of functions in ecosystems. Using phylogenetic, trophic, and functional information, we tested whether trophic habits (i.e. feeding guilds) affect lineage and functional diversification in two major radiations of reef fishes. Our results from wrasses (Labrid...
Color patterns provide easy access to phenotypic diversity and allow the questioning of the adaptive value of traits or the constraints acting on phenotypic evolution. Reef fish offer a unique opportunity to address such questions because they are ecologically and phylogenetically diverse and have the largest variety of pigment cell types known in...
Documenting phenotypic variation among populations is crucial for our understanding of micro-evolutionary processes. To date, the quantification of trophic and morphological variation among populations of coral reef fish at multiple geographical scales remains limited. This study aimed to quantify diet and body shape variation among four population...
Genetic diversity is essential for species persistence because it provides the raw material for evolution. For marine organisms, short pelagic larval duration (PLD) and small population size are characteristics generally assumed to associate with low genetic diversity. The ecological diversity of organisms may also affect genetic diversity, with an...
The percomorph fish family Lutjanidae (snappers and fusiliers) includes about 135 reef-dwelling species, mainly confined to tropical and subtropical marine waters. The great majority of snappers are active predators feeding on fishes or crustaceans, even though some species, including the fusiliers (Caesioninae), have evolved zooplanktivory. Lutjan...
The inner ear of teleost fishes is known to serve both auditory and vestibular functions. Many studies have compared otoliths from different species and attempted to understand the observed differences within the light of environmental factors. However, experimental data on how otoliths could adapt are scarce. This study explores the relationship b...
Otoliths of actinopterygians are calcified structures playing a key role in hearing and equilibrium functions. To understand their morphological
diversification, we quantified the shape of otoliths in both lateral and dorsal view from 697 and 323 species, respectively, using geometric mor-
phometrics. We then combined form (i.e. size and shape) inf...
Chemical pollution in coastal waters, particularly from agricultural runoff organophosphates, poses a significant threat to marine ecosystems, including coral reefs. Pollutants such as chlorpyrifos (CPF) are widely used in agriculture and have adverse effects on marine life and humans. In this paper, we investigate the impact of CPF on the metamorp...
We present the first open-access, island-wide isotopic database (IsoMad) for modern biologically relevant materials collected on Madagascar within the past 150 years from both terrestrial and nearshore marine environments. Isotopic research on the island has increasingly helped with biological studies of endemic organisms, including evaluating fora...
Fluctuating sea levels during the Pleistocene led to habitat loss and fragmentation, impacting the evolutionary trajectories of reef fishes. Species with specialized ecological requirements or habitat preferences, like clownfishes (Amphiprioninae), may have been particularly vulnerable due to their intricate dependence on sea anemones. The diverse...
Across the Tree of Life, most studies of phenotypic disparity and diversification have been restricted to adult organisms. However, many lineages have distinct ontogenetic phases that differ from their adult forms in morphology and ecology. Focusing disproportionately on the evolution of adult forms unnecessarily hinders our understanding of the pr...
Colours and associated patterns are probably some of the most obvious phenotypic traits in animals and reef teleost fishes are often cited as a textbook example for illustrating this type of diversity. Even if it is well established that colour patterns play a central role in the ecology and evolution of reef fishes, we still lack the necessary too...
In coral reef fish, the transition from pelagic larvae to reef-associated juveniles is a complete metamorphosis in which coordinated physiological, morphological, and behavioural changes occur, enabling the fish to settle and grow in coastal habitats and then recruit into the adult population. Environmental factors can modulate different aspects of...
Seaweed farming for the production of carrageenan is a growing economic activity. Like everywhere in the marine environment, farmed algae such as Kappaphycus alvarezii can host algal organisms as epiphytes. Epiphytes ensure important functions in natural ecosystems, but these organisms can have negative impacts on their hosts and, in aquaculture be...
Coastal habitats have long been recognised to be nurseries and growing grounds for many marine organisms. Worldwide, coastal hardening and urbanisation are leading to the removal of natural ecosystems. The tropical island of Bora-Bora in the South Pacific has undergone extensive coastal changes, with the construction of seawalls along more than hal...
Aim
Several marine biogeographical provinces meet at the Arabian Peninsula. Where and how these junctions affect species is poorly understood. We herein aimed to identify the barriers to dispersal and how these shape fish populations, leading to differing biogeographies despite shared habitat and co‐ancestry.
Taxon
Dascyllus marginatus (endemic) a...
Despite the role that goatfishes play in reef ecosystems, knowledge of their ecomorphological diversity remains scarce. Here, we explore the ecomorphology of six species of goatfishes living in sympatry at Toliara Reef (South-West of Madagascar) by using a combination of morphometric and isotopic (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N and δ³⁴S) data. The shape of cephalic re...
Coastal habitats have long been recognised to be nurseries for many marine organisms. The nursery role of different habitats for various fish species was investigated on a range of reef and coastal habitats on a coral reef island. Barrier and fringing reefs, pinnacles, tall vegetation zones, coastal rush and grass zones, mangroves, seawalls, and be...
The ecological theory of adaptive radiation has profoundly shaped our conceptualization of the rules that govern diversification. However, while many radiations follow classic early-burst patterns of diversification as they fill ecological space, the longer-term fates of these radiations depend on many factors, such as climatic stability. In system...
Living cetaceans are ecologically diverse and have colonized habitats ranging from rivers and estuaries to the open ocean. This ecological diversity is strongly associated with variation of vertebral morphology. Interestingly, intraspecific ecological specialization between coastal and offshore environments has also been described for several speci...
To date, only one mitogenome from an Antarctic amphipod has been published. Here, novel complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of two morphospecies are assembled, namely, Charcotia amundseni and Eusirus giganteus. For the latter species, we have assembled two mitogenomes from different genetic clades of this species. The lengths of Eusirus an...
The iterative nature of ecomorphological diversification is observed in various groups of animals. However, studies explicitly testing the consistency of morphological variation across and within species are scarce. Antarctic notothenioids represent a textbook example of adaptive radiation in marine fishes. Within Nototheniidae, the endemic Antarct...
The ecological theory of adaptive radiation has profoundly shaped our conceptualization of the rules that govern diversification. However, while many radiations follow classic early burst patterns of diversification as they fill ecological space, the longer-term fates of these radiations depend on many factors, such as climatic stability. In system...
Across the Tree of Life, most studies of phenotypic disparity and diversification have been restricted to adult organisms. However, many lineages have distinct ontogenetic phases that do not reflect the same traits as their adult forms. Non-adult disparity patterns are particularly important to consider for coastal ray-finned fishes, which often ha...
Although molecular methods and bioacoustical analysis have been used to uncover cryptic species, the combination of both methodologies is still rare. The humbug damselfish complex, Dascyllus aruanus, is composed of at least two species with Dascyllus aruanus in the Pacific Ocean and Dascyllus abudafur in the Indian Ocean. However, genetic data sugg...
It is well accepted that the complexity of functional systems may mitigate performance trade-offs. However, data supporting this theory are hard to find because they need to be based on a functional system with different complexity levels in closely related species. The Pomacentridae (damselfishes) provide an excellent opportunity to test this hypo...
Cetaceans represent the most diverse clade of extant marine tetrapods. Although the restructuring of oceans could have contributed to their diversity , other factors might also be involved. Similar to ichthyosaurs and sharks, variation of morphological traits could have promoted the colonization of new ecological niches and supported their diversif...
Background
The clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris is one of the rare coral reef fish species that can be reared in aquaria. With relatively short embryonic and larval development, it could be used as a model species to study the impact of global changes such as temperature rise or anthropogenic threats (eg, pollution) on the postembryonic development a...
Serrasalmid fishes form a highly specialized group of biters that show a large trophic diversity, ranging from pacus able to crush seeds to piranhas capable of cutting flesh. Their oral jaw system has been hypothesized to be forceful, but variation in bite performance and morphology with respect to diet has not previously been investigated. We test...
Antarctic specimens collected during various research expeditions are preserved in natural history collections around the world potentially offering a cornucopia of morphological and molecular data. Historical samples of marine species are, however, often preserved in formaldehyde which may render them useless for genetic analysis. We sampled stoma...
Background:
Biologists have long been fascinated by the striking diversity of complex color patterns in tropical reef fishes. However, the origins and evolution of this diversity are still poorly understood. Disentangling the evolution of simple color patterns offers the opportunity to dissect both ultimate and proximate causes underlying color di...
At the macroevolutionary level, many mechanisms have been proposed to explain explosive species diversification. Among them morphological and/or physiological novelty is considered to have a great impact on the tempo and the mode of diversification. Meiacanthus is a genus of Blenniidae possessing a unique buccal venom gland at the base of an elonga...
Understanding the forces that influence the dynamics of communities is a key challenge to undertake in changing environments. Despite recent advances in coral reef community ecology, a more comprehensive knowledge about processes (niche‐related traits and phylogenies) driving the composition of reef fish community is needed.
Here, we conducted a qu...
Convergent evolution of small body size occurs across many vertebrate clades and may reflect an evolutionary response to shared selective pressures. However it remains unclear if other aspects of phenotype undergo convergent evolution in miniaturized lineages. Here we present a comparative analysis of body size and shape evolution in marine angelfi...
Despite their importance in coral reef ecosystem function and trophodynamics, the trophic ecology of nocturnal fishes (e.g. Apogonidae, Holocentridae, Pempheridae) is by far less studied than diurnal ones. The Apogonidae (cardinalfishes) include mostly carnivorous species and evidence of trophic niche partitioning among sympatric cardinalfishes is...
Several mass strandings of sperm whales occurred in the North Sea during January and February 2016. Twelve animals were necropsied and sampled around 48 h after their discovery on German coasts of Schleswig Holstein. The present study aims to explore the morphological variation of the primary sensory organ of sperm whales, the left and right audito...
The replenishment and persistence of marine species is contingent on dispersing larvae locating suitable habitat and surviving to a reproductive stage. Pelagic larvae rely on environmental cues to make behavioural decisions with chemical information being important for habitat selection at settlement. We explored the sensory world of crustaceans an...
The cerato-mandibular (c-md) ligament is a synapomorphy within Pomacentridae that creates a tight link between the lower jaws and the hyoid bars. However, this morphological trait has been secondarily lost in multiple lineages during evolution. A previous study revealed that the loss of this trait acted as a release of evolutionary constraints, lea...
Various factors may impact the processes of diversification of a clade. In the marine realm, it has been shown that coral reef environments have promoted diversification in various fish groups. With the exception of requiem sharks, all the groups showing a higher level of diversity in reefs than in non-reef habitats have diets based predominantly o...
Despite the increasing need to understand factors shaping community assembly, few studies have simultaneously explored the influence of niche-based and phylogenetic processes. Here, we investigate the relationships between diet, habitat and social behaviour in damselfishes (Pomacentridae) collected in 2014 at Moorea Island (17°30′S, 149°50′W), Fren...
Damselfish are prolific callers, identified as being able to produce different kinds of sounds (pops and chirps) associated with various behaviors. During courtship and chase behaviors, the coral reef damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis produces a previously unknown additional kind of call that we have named the wiping sound. These calls have two to...
Ecological morphology is a comparative discipline focused on the connections between morphological and ecological diversity. The ecomorphological approach examines the optimization of functional morphology to specific ecological characters at multiple levels: among individuals within a species, among species and higher taxa, and among guilds and co...
Damselfishes (Pomacentridae) are highly conspicuous, diurnal inhabitants of mainly reef areas, capturing the attention of many scientists. Their high diversity and many interesting characteristics dealing with their way of life (sound production, breeding biology, sex change, farming and gregarious behavior, settlement, diet, habitat) easily explai...
In vertebrates, brain functional asymmetries are widespread and increase brain performance. Some species of fishes are known to have brain asymmetries; however, little information is available on brain lateralization in coral reef fishes and the impact this could have during the recruitment phase. In this study, soldierfish, Myripristis pralinia, a...
The sheepshead minnow Cyprinodon variegatus has become a favoured model for laboratory studies because of their small size, rapid development, and tolerance of laboratory conditions. Here, we analyse sheepshead minnow post-embryonic development with the goal of providing a generally useful method for staging fish after embryogenesis. Groups of thre...
As fish move and interact with their aquatic environment by swimming, small morphological variations of the locomotor system can have profound implications on fitness. Damselfishes (Pomacentridae) have inhabited coral reef ecosystems for more than 50 million years. As such, habitat preferences and behavior could significantly constrain the morpholo...
Many damselfishes (Pomacentridae) are herbivorous or omnivorous with an important contribution from different kinds of algae in their diet. They display different levels of territoriality and farming behavior, from almost non territorial to monoculture farmers. In addition, a few species inhabit seagrass meadows but, presently, none can be consider...
The temporal variation in carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions (noted as δ13C and δ15N) was investigated in the convict surgeonfish (Acanthurus triostegus) at Moorea (French Polynesia). Over a period of 24 days, juveniles were reared in aquaria and subjected to two different feeding treatments: granules or algae. The dynamics of δ13C and δ15N...
When fish larvae recruit back to a reef, chemical cues are often used to find suitable habitat or to find juvenile or adult conspecifics. We tested if the chemical information used by larvae was intentionally produced by juvenile and adult conspecifics already on the reef (communication process) or whether the cues used result from normal biochemic...
The yellowtail clownfish Amphiprion clarkii is able to close its mouth very quickly by means of the cerato-mandibular (c-md) ligament, a synapomorphic trait of Pomacentridae joining the hyoid bar to the medial part of the lower jaw. This fast closure induces tooth collision, thus producing sounds that the clownfish uses during agonistic behaviors....
Trait decoupling, wherein evolutionary release of constraints permits specialization of formerly integrated structures, represents a major conceptual framework for interpreting patterns of organismal diversity. However, few empirical tests of this hypothesis exist. A central prediction, that the tempo of morphological evolution and ecological diver...
The success of a taxonomic group can be promoted by a key character that allows the group to interact with its environment in a different way and to potentially occupy new niches. The Pomacentridae possess a synapomorphic trait, the cerato-mandibular (c-md) ligament, which joins the hyoid bar to the inner part of the lower jaw. It has previously be...
Abstract Coral reef fishes represent one of the most spectacularly diverse assemblages of vertebrates on the planet, but our understanding of their mode of diversification remains limited. Here we test whether the diversity of the damselfishes (Pomacentridae), one of the most species-rich families of reef-associated fishes, was produced by a single...
Population differentiation is one of the main topics in evolutionary biology. Except the exploration of color variation, few studies focused on morphological divergences among populations of coral reef fishes. In this work, we studied morphological and genetic differentiation among populations of the damselfish, Pomacentrus coeles-tis, in the north...
It was recently demonstrated that clownfishes produce aggressive sounds by snapping their jaw teeth. To date, only the onset of the sound has been studied, which raises the question, what structure is involved in sound radiation? Here, a combination of different approaches has been used to determine the anatomical structure(s) responsible for the s...
Fin shape strongly influences performance of locomotion across all swimming styles. In this study, we focused on the diversity of the pectoral fin morphology in damselfishes of the Eastern Pacific. Underwater observations and a review of literature allowed the characterization of ten behavioral groups. Territorial and non-territorial species were d...