Abstract
Fatty acids (FA) are among the most important molecules transferred across the plant–animal interface in aquatic food webs. Particular classes of FA, such as the n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA), are important somatic growth limiting compounds for herbivorous zooplankton (Müller-Navarra 1995a; Müller-Navarra et al. 2000; Ravet et al. 2003). These molecules are also critical for the growth, disease resistance, and general well being of juvenile fish (Adams 1999; Olsen 1999; Sargent et al. 1999). Thus, knowing how nutritionally important FA are conveyed through food webs has important implications for understanding economically important fisheries. A very substantial literature shows these same molecules have a wide range of positive impacts on human health (Simopoulos 1999; Arts et al. 2001). Specific FA may also help interpret trophic relations in aquatic systems (Dalsgaard et al. 2003), as the group specific FA composition of primary producers varies greatly (Volkman et al. 1989; Ahlgren et al. 1992). Therefore, it is important to understand how much the FA composition of zooplankton is determined by taxonomic affiliation, changed by diet, and modified by starvation or temperature. It is also essential to know whether zooplankton maintain a semiconstant FA profile relative to their diets or, alternatively, bioconvert some FA into other FA molecules. This review will summarize the published information on how these factors regulate the FA composition of freshwater and marine zooplankton.
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Notes
- 1.
Homeoviscous response refers to the modification of membrane lipid composition to maintain similar physical properties across a range of water temperatures.
- 2.
In this chapter, we will use PUFA to refer to 16 and 18 carbon chain (C16 and C18) FA with two or more double bonds and HUFA to represent the subset of C20 and C22 PUFA.
- 3.
A homeostatic response refers to a generally fixed elemental or biochemical composition in a consumer despite considerable variation in their diet. A “quasi-homeostatic” response indicates some (but much less) variation in the elemental or biochemical composition of a consumer compared to their diet.
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Brett, M.T., Müller-Navarra, D.C., Persson, J. (2009). Crustacean zooplankton fatty acid composition. In: Kainz, M., Brett, M., Arts, M. (eds) Lipids in Aquatic Ecosystems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89366-2_6
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