Metabolic Rate Interacts with Resource Availability to Determine Individual Variation in Microhabitat Use in the Wild

The American Naturalist
Sonya K AuerNeil B Metcalfe

Abstract

Ecological pressures such as competition can lead individuals within a population to partition resources or habitats, but the underlying intrinsic mechanisms that determine an individual's resource use are not well understood. Here we show that an individual's own energy demand and associated competitive ability influence its resource use, but only when food is more limiting. We tested whether intraspecific variation in metabolic rate leads to microhabitat partitioning among juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in natural streams subjected to manipulated nutrient levels and subsequent per capita food availability. We found that individual salmon from families with a higher baseline (standard) metabolic rate (which is associated with greater competitive ability) tended to occupy faster-flowing water, but only in streams with lower per capita food availability. Faster-flowing microhabitats yield more food, but high metabolic rate fish only benefited from faster growth in streams with high food levels, presumably because in low-food environments the cost of a high metabolism offsets the benefits of acquiring a productive microhabitat. The benefits of a given metabolic rate were thus context dependent. These results demonstrate t...Continue Reading

Citations

Nov 4, 2020·Biology Letters·Sonya K AuerEnrico L Rezende
Sep 4, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Alexis J KhursigaraAndrew J Esbaugh
May 12, 2021·Molecular Ecology·Darryl McLennanNeil B Metcalfe
Aug 22, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Lukas SchusterDustin J Marshall
Sep 16, 2021·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Louise C ArcherThomas E Reed

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