Pop‐off data storage tags reveal niche partitioning between native and non‐native predators in a novel ecosystem

1. Niche partitioning might be predicted to be particularly dynamic in ‘novel ecosystems’ characterized by human-altered environmental conditions and biological invasions. Restoration efforts for native species in such systems can be informed by detailed characterization of niche partitioning.
2. In Lake Ontario, fishery management agencies have been engaged in a long-term struggle to restore native top predators including lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush). Meanwhile, management agencies continue to stock non-native species like Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) into the lake to support a recreational fishery and to help control the abundance of a non-native forage fish, the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus).
3. We used pop-off data storage tags to study fine scale (9.1M lines of data from 22 animals) behaviour and habitat use by lake trout (native) and Chinook salmon (non-native) in Lake Ontario in terms of depth and temperature, recorded at ≤70 s intervals for periods of up to 1..., Raw data for Raby et al data storage tag paperDatafile is an .rds file - see README for instructions.dst_dataset_20190830.rds, ,