Partitioning of temperature resources amongst an estuarine fish assemblage

Temperature (i.e. habitat at any given temperature) is an ecological resource for which organisms compete to maximise growth and other fitness measures, but the temperature (thermal habitat)-resource concept has not been widely applied to the study of estuarine fish. Temperature–abundance relationships for 16 fish and four invertebrate species from the Thames estuary were analysed to test hypotheses regarding temperature resource partitioning. Significant temperature–abundance models were apparent, explaining >65% of the variability in 13 fish species and 50% of variability in three invertebrate species. Fish demonstrated differential responses to temperature across the range. Invertebrates generally preferred warmer conditions than fish. Calculated thermal niche breadths indicated species preferenda spread across the recorded temperature range and some separation along the thermal niche axis within the same functional guild or taxonomic group. Calculated overlap coefficients and resource separation ratios provided some evidence for resource separation and demonstrated that species closely aligned on other niche axes (e.g. physical habitat use, feeding type) were most likely to be separated in terms of their use of thermal habitat resources, suggesting where other niche axes variables are not separating species, division of the temperature resources may be preventing competition between fish species. Few fish species demonstrated significant overlap with potential invertebrate prey, suggesting facultative use of the estuary to exploit optimal thermal habitat rather than food supply. The temporal migration pattern of fish in estuaries is therefore interpreted as a response to resource separation along the temperature axis which limits potential competition between functionally or taxonomically similar species. Thermal resource partitioning in estuaries has temporal rather than spatial dimensions and provides an example of the niche compression/expansion hypothesis.