Data from: Lake size and fish diversity determine resource use and trophic position of a top predator in high-latitude lakes ...

• Main Authors: Eloranta, Antti P., Kahilainen, Kimmo K., Amundsen, Per-Arne, Knudsen, Rune, Harrod, Chris, Jones, Roger I.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2015
• Subjects: stable isotope analysis; benthic; energy mobilization; Salvelinus alpinus; Arctic; Arctic charr; Fennoscandian; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.sc59f; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.sc59f

Prey preference of top predators and energy flow across habitat boundaries are of fundamental importance for structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as they may have strong effects on production, species diversity, and food-web stability. In lakes, littoral and pelagic food-web compartments are typically coupled and controlled by generalist fish top predators. However, the extent and determinants of such coupling remains a topical area of ecological research and is largely unknown in oligotrophic high-latitude lakes. We analyzed food-web structure and resource use by a generalist top predator, the Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus (L.), in 17 oligotrophic subarctic lakes covering a marked gradient in size (0.5–1084 km2) and fish species richness (2–13 species). We expected top predators to shift from littoral to pelagic energy sources with increasing lake size, as the availability of pelagic prey resources and the competition for littoral prey are both likely to be higher in large lakes ... : Lake characteristics and Arctic charr stable isotope estimates and diet proportionsData of lake characteristics and Arctic charr trophic niche collected from 17 (+9) Fennoscandian subarctic lakes and used in the set of linear models. Further details about each parameter are given above the column titles.Dryad_Eloranta-et-al-2015.xlsx ...