Intraspecific Resource Partitioning in Brown Trout: The Temporal Distribution of Foraging Is Determined by Social Rank

1. Animals can reduce the competition for a limiting resource by temporal segregation, whereby individuals exploit the resource at different times. However, the pay-offs may vary predictably over time, and it can be predicted that (a) more dominant competitors should gain access to resources at the preferred times and (b) the degree of temporal segregation will vary with the intensity of competition. 2. Here we show experimentally that individual brown trout Salmo trutta (L.) made sequential use of foraging areas, with dominant individuals feeding mainly at the most beneficial times of dusk and the early part of the night while more subordinate fish fed at other times. 3. However, the degree of overlap in foraging times between high-ranking fish was dependent on energetic demands. At low temperatures (when requirements were low) the temporal activity patterns of top-ranking fish were synchronized, with foraging concentrated at the preferred times. In contrast, when temperature was raised to increase energetic requirements, activity patterns showed strong temporal segregation: the most dominant fish remained predominantly nocturnal, whereas second-ranking fish became increasingly diurnal. 4. This is the first experimental demonstration of shifts in the daily pattern of activity caused by varying intensity of intraspecific competition.