DOI: 10.5061/dryad.tdz08kq4f
title: Data for: Seasonally mediated niche partitioning in a vertically compressed pelagic predator guild

description: Niche partitioning among closely related, sympatric species is a
 fundamental concept in ecology, and its mechanisms are of broad
 interest for understanding ecosystem functioning and predicting
 the impacts of human-driven environmental change. However,
 identifying mechanisms by which top marine predators partition
 available resources has been especially challenging given the
 difficulty of quantifying resource use of large pelagic animals. In
 the eastern tropical Pacific (ETP), three large, highly mobile
 and ecologically similar pelagic predators (blue marlin (Makaira
 nigricans), black marlin (Istiompax indica) and sailfish
 (Istiophorus platypterus)) coexist in a vertically compressed habitat. To
 evaluate each species’ ecological niche, we leveraged a decade of
 recreational fisheries data, multi-year satellite tracking with
 high-resolution dive data, and stable isotope analysis. Fishery
 interaction and telemetry-based three-dimensional seasonal utilization
 distributions suggested high spatial and temporal overlap among species;
 however, seasonal and diel variability in diving behaviour produced
 spatial partitioning, leading to low trophic overlap among species.
 Expanding oxygen minimum zones will reduce the available vertical habitat
 within predator guilds, likely leading to increases in interspecific
 competition. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of habitat partitioning
 among predators in the vertically compressed ETP can provide insight into
 how predators in other ocean regions may respond to vertically limited
 habitats.
description: # Data for: Seasonally mediated niche partitioning in a vertically
 compressed pelagic predator guild --- ## Description of the data
 and file structure Across all files, NA indicates no data were obtained
 for the given cell. In "Logan et al_TimeSeries_DepthTemp.csv" *
 Day - Date * Ptt - Satellite tag ID number, unique for each individual *
 Depth - depth in meters of the time series messages received * DateTime -
 Date and Time of time series messages received * Day1 - Date * Hour - Hour
 of Day * month - month of year * time - value that increases daily for
 inclusion of time since tagging in models * season - season of the year,
 based on month. Wet and Dry. * tag_seaon - indicates which tagging year
 each fish was tagged in * ascention - unique ID for each fish In
 "Logan et al_IndividualDiveCharacterisitics.csv", each row holds
 information about 1 individual dive * begdesc - date and time of when a
 dive descent began * enddesc - date and time of when a dive descent ended
 * begasc - date and time of when a dive ascent began * botttim - duration
 (seconds) of time spent at the bottom phase of the dive * divetim -
 duration (seconds) from the beginning of the descent to the end of the
 ascent * bottdist - distance covered (meters) vertically during the bottom
 phase of a dive * bottdep.mean - average depth (meters) of the bottom
 phase of the dive * maxdep - maximum depth (meters) that was attained on
 the dive * spp - Species (BUM = blue marlin, BAM = black marlin, SFA =
 sailfish) * Ptt - unique tag ID for each fish * Date - date the dive was
 performed on * month - month of the year the dive was perfomed in * season
 - season of the year the dive was perfomed in In "Logan et
 al_3d_KUD_df.csv" * Ptt - unique tag ID for each fish * Date - date
 of the location estimate * spp - Species (BUM = blue marlin, BAM = black
 marlin, SFA = sailfish) * Lat - Latitude (decimal degrees) of the daily
 location estimate * Lon - Longitude (decimal degrees) of the daily
 location estimate * month - month of the year the of the location estimate
 * season - season of the year of the location estimate * max - maximum
 depth (meters) obtained for the day of the location estimate In
 "Logan et al_SIA_data.csv" * C13 - Carbon 13 isotope value * N15
 - Nitrogen 15 isotope value * Short_Name - Species (BUM = blue marlin, BAM
 = black marlin, SFA = sailfish) ## Sharing/Access information please email
 the lead author, Ryan Logan, with any questions
 or for additional information/data.