Allometry of territory size and metabolic rate as predictors of self‐thinning in young‐of‐the‐year Atlantic salmon

Abstract

1. Self‐thinning is a progressive decline in population density caused by competitively induced losses in a cohort of growing individuals and can be depicted as: log10 (density) = c − β log10 (body mass). 2. In mobile animals, two mechanisms for self‐thinning have been proposed: (i) the space hypothesis predicts that maximum population density for a given body size is the inverse of territory size, and hence, the self‐thinning slope is the negative of the slope of the allometric territory‐size relationship; (ii) the energetic equivalence hypothesis predicts that the self‐thinning slope is the negative of the slope of the allometric metabolic rate relationship, assuming a constant supply of energy for the cohort. 3. Both hypotheses were tested by monitoring body size, population density, food availability and habitat for young‐of‐the‐year Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Catamaran Brook, New Brunswick. The results were consistent with the predictions of the space hypothesis. Observed densities did not exceed the maximum densities predicted and the observed self‐thinning slope of −1·16 was not significantly different from the slope of −1·12, predicted by the allometry of territory size for the population under study. 4. The observed self‐thinning slope was significantly steeper than −0·87, predicted by the allometry of metabolic rate, perhaps because of a gradual decline in food abundance over the study period. The decline in density was more rapid in very shallow sites and may have been partly caused by a seasonal change in water depth and an ontogenetic habitat shift rather than solely by competition for food or space. 5. The allometry of territory size may be a useful predictor of self‐thinning in populations of mobile animals competing for food and space.