A coral-dwelling goby (Gobiodon histrio), one of several species that coexists among coral by means of a competitive lottery.

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Habitat space is a limiting resource for coral-dwelling gobies. The species pictured, Gobiodon histrio, coexists with an ecologically similar species in the same genus, Gobiodon erythrospilus, by means of a competitive lottery for vacant corals. There is evidence that the two species compete for vacant space, and a removal of one species results in an increase in the abundance of the other species. Although the lottery hypothesis was first developed for coral-dwelling fish, data supporting the hypothesis has remained elusive, and the data collected on this species was a notable development. This photograph originally appeared on the cover of Ecology (85:3) in March of 2004.

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Primary or BEN resource type	Photograph
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Format	jpeg
Temporal and geographic description	Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
Ecological Core Concept	Interspecific interactions -- Competition Interspecific interactions Communities -- Disturbance, assembly, and succession Communities
Drought & Water-Ecosystem Services Collection	Off
Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection	Off
Big Data Collection	Off
Editor's Choice	No
Audience	Undergraduate upper division 15-16 Undergraduate lower division 13-14
Pedagogical Use Description	This photograph can be used to illustrate gobies, fish, coral reefs, and species assembly by competitive lottery.
Keywords	competition, space, limitation, coexistence, coral, fish, lottery, colonization
Key taxa	coral-dwelling goby, Gobiodon histrio
Life science discipline (subject)	Ecology
Primary Author Controlled Name	Philip Munday
Primary Author Affiliation	Centre for Coral Reef Biodiversity, James Cook University
Primary Author email	Philip.Munday@jcu.edu.au
Rights	Copyright 2004 by the Ecological Society of America.
Resource Editor	Unknown
Reviewer A	Unknown
Reviewer B	Unknown
Date Of Record Submission	2008-03-31

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