Fig. 1

Benthic cover, fish biomass, and microbial abundances at mid-depth (10–15 m) on 110 coral reef communities across the Pacific. A Percentage of benthos covered by live scleractinian corals. B Fish biomass, as the sum of herbivores, planktivores, invertivores, piscivores, and sharks. C Abundance of microbial cells in the water overlying the reef benthos (within 30 cm). D Relationship between the percentage of the benthos covered by fleshy algae, as a sum of turf algae and fleshy macroalgae, and the percentage of the benthos covered by scleractinian corals, where the dotted line indicates a proportionally inverse relationship summing up to 100%, and the solid line indicates a non-linear fit. E Relationship between total fish biomass and coral cover. F Relationship between viral abundances and microbial cell abundances, where the dotted line indicates a 10:1 relationship and the solid line indicates a linear regression in the log–log plot. The benthic, fish, and bacterial data were obtained concurrently at the same sites visited during the NOAA Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program