Evidence that an ontogenetic niche shift by native masu salmon facilitates invasion by nonnative brown trout

The mechanisms underlying successful invasions by a competitively subordinate species are poorly understood. In Japan, nonnative brown trout Salmo trutta L. have successfully invaded a number of streams that contain native masu salmon Oncorhynchus masou Brevoort, even though young of the year (YOY) brown trout are thought to be competitively subordinate to YOY masu salmon because of their smaller body size due to later emergence time. We conducted a laboratory experiment and field observations to evaluate whether ontogenetic habitat shifts could explain the success of brown trout. In a laboratory experiment, smaller YOY brown trout were competitively inferior to YOY masu salmon. Our field observations suggest that YOY masu salmon shift to deeper and faster velocity habitat before the emergence of brown trout fry. Thus, there is separation of habitat use between the two species. Taken together, our results suggest an ontogenetic niche shift by competitively dominant native masu salmon may reduce niche overlap and the opportunity for competitive interactions, and thus facilitate invasion by a nonnative brown trout.