Data from: Predation risk and resource abundance mediate foraging behaviour and intraspecific resource partitioning among consumers in dominance hierarchies

Yet, few studies have manipulated predation risk and resource abundance simultaneously; consequently, their joint effect on resource partitioning within dominance hierarchies are not well understood. We addressed this gap by measuring behavioural responses of masu salmon (Oncorhynchus masou ishikawae) to experimental manipulations of predation risk and resource abundance in a natural temperate forest stream. Responses to predation risk depended on body size and social status such that larger fish (often social dominants) exhibited more risk-averse behaviour (e.g., lower foraging and appearance rates) than smaller subdominants after exposure to a simulated predator.

The magnitude of this effect was lower when resources were elevated, indicating that dominant fish accepted a higher predation risk to forage on abundant resources. However, the influence of resource abundance did not extend to the population level, where predation risk altered the distribution of foraging attempts (a proxy for energy intake) from being skewed towards large individuals to being skewed towards small individuals after predator exposure.

Our results imply that size-dependent foraging-predation risk trade-offs can weaken the strength of dominance hierarchies by allowing competitively inferior subdominants to access resources that would otherwise be monopolized. Usage notes drift_invertebrates Raw dry mass (g) of drifting invertebrates. Pool_attributes Physical attributes of pools where experimental manipulations and behavioural observations took place.

Drift_collection Drift net set durations and stream channel attributes used to calculate prey availability in each reach. behaviour data Foraging behaviour of masu salmon before and after exposure to predator stimulus. Abbreviations are the same as those used in the manuscript: FFA is the frequency of foraging attempts when a fish was visible; AR is the appearance rate; AFR is the actual foraging rate (the product of AR and FFA); FA is the total number of foraging attempts. behaviour_data_export.csv Aggressive interactions Frequency of aggressive interactions (AGR) among masu salmon before and after exposure to the predator stimulus. aggressive_interactions.csv