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Maternal diet of Daphnia magna affects offspring growth responses to supplementation with particular polyunsaturated fatty acids

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Abstract

Previous studies examining the effects of food quality on zooplankton often controlled for maternal effects of resource provisioning using standardized maternal diets. However, varying nutritional history of mothers may change resource provisioning to their progeny, especially regarding polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which may change the interpretation of previously observed fitness responses of offspring. To assess PUFA-mediated maternal provisioning effects on offspring, we raised females of the cladoceran Daphnia magna on diets differing considerably in PUFA composition and raised their offspring on a PUFA-lacking diet supplemented with the ω3 PUFAs α-linolenic acid (ALA) and/or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The mass-specific growth responses of offspring to their own diets were affected by the maternal diet regime, probably due to varying maternal PUFA provisioning. A low maternal provisioning of EPA or ALA was sufficient to prevent growth limitation of offspring by these PUFAs until reaching maturity. A comparison with results of published ALA and EPA supplementation experiments suggests that the previously observed limitation effects depended on the usage of a single algae genus as maternal diet. Therefore, we suggest that maternal diets should be deliberately varied in future studies assessing ecological relevant food quality effects on zooplankton, especially regarding PUFAs.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Silvia Heim and Sabine Donath for technical assistance. This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Grant Nos SP1473/1-1 to E.S. and WA2445/8-1 to A.W.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences and The Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Erik Sperfeld

  2. Ecology and Ecosystem Modelling, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469, Potsdam, Germany

    Alexander Wacker

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  1. Erik Sperfeld
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Correspondence to Erik Sperfeld.

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Sperfeld, E., Wacker, A. Maternal diet of Daphnia magna affects offspring growth responses to supplementation with particular polyunsaturated fatty acids. Hydrobiologia 755, 267–282 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2244-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2244-y

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