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Indirect effects of asymmetrical competition among top predators determine spatial patterns of predation risk for prey

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Abstract

Asymmetrical interspecific competition among top predators can indirectly affect the predation risk for their prey by altering the abundance, diet, and habitat use of inferior competitors. However, the indirect effects of such biological interactions are poorly known because of the difficulties in measuring predation risk in nature. We addressed this issue by assessing the effect of asymmetrical competition among brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and two superior non-piscivorous competitors, creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus) and white sucker (Catostomus commersonii), on the predation risk of a brook trout prey, northern redbelly dace (Chrosomus eos). We determined the spatio-temporal patterns of relative predation risk of dace with tethering experiments in 11 lakes containing either only brook trout and dace (n = 5), or brook trout, dace, chub, and sucker (n = 6). The diel pattern of the relative predation risk and the overall relative predation risk of dace were not significantly different in lakes with or without brook trout competitors. However, we observed a significant shift in the relative predation risk from the lower pelagic to the upper pelagic and littoral zones in the presence of brook trout competitors. This study highlights the fact that the outcome of interactions can vary in space and that care should be used when extrapolating the results of small-scale experiments or coarse-scale estimates to the whole ecosystem.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Julie Adams, Maryse Blanchette, Come Garceau, Annie Jacob, Kathy-Andrée Laplante-Albert, Maxime Léveillé, Rachel Massicotte, Aurore Perot, Daniel Pouliot, Raphaël Proulx, Evelyne Roy, and Sylvain Theleme for their assistance at various stages of this research as well as Daniel Boisclair, Laure Devine, and Jim Grant for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. We also thank the Société des Etablissements de Plein Air au Québec for logistical support and Peter Sale for giving us information about building the chronographic tether. This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canada Research Chair Program to P. Magnan. The protocol of this research was approved by the Animal Care Committee of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.

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  1. Angélique Dupuch

    Present address: Institut des Sciences de la Forêt Tempérée, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 58 Rue principale, Ripon, QC, J0V 1V0, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de recherche sur les interactions bassins versants-écosystèmes aquatiques (RIVE), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, C.P. 500, Trois-Rivières, QC, G9A 5H7, Canada

    Angélique Dupuch, Andrea Bertolo & Pierre Magnan

  2. Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada

    Lawrence M. Dill

Authors
  1. Angélique Dupuch
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  2. Andrea Bertolo
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  3. Pierre Magnan
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  4. Lawrence M. Dill
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Correspondence to Angélique Dupuch.

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Dupuch, A., Bertolo, A., Magnan, P. et al. Indirect effects of asymmetrical competition among top predators determine spatial patterns of predation risk for prey. Aquat Sci 76, 543–552 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-014-0352-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-014-0352-9

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