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Fatty acid biomarker ratios—suitable trophic indicators in Antarctic euphausiids?

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Abstract

Fatty-acid biomarkers are frequently used for the identification of trophic relationships among marine zooplankton. We have evaluated the suitability of five fatty-acid ratios [16:0/16:1(n-7), 16:1(n-7)/18:4(n-3), 18:1(n-9)/18:1(n-7), 20:5(n-3)/22:6(n-3), PUFA/SFA] that have been proposed as trophic indicators in the literature. Total lipid content and fatty-acid composition were determined in four Antarctic euphausiid species (Euphausia superba, E. frigida, E. triacantha, Thysanoessa macrura). There is a significant relationship between the lipid content and most of these ratios in the investigated euphausiids. Only the 16:1(n-7)/18:4(n-3) ratio exhibits no clear relationship to total lipids. Further exceptions occur in E. triacantha: the 18:1(n-9)/18:1(n-7) and the 20:5(n-3)/22:6(n-3) ratios are not correlated to the lipid content in this species. There is a weaker correlation between the fatty-acid ratios and the total lipid content in E. superba larvae than in the postlarvae, indicating a stronger dietary influence on the lipids of the younger stages. We conclude that those fatty-acid ratios that strongly depend on an animal’s total lipid content (particularly PUFA/SFA), are only of limited use as trophic indices, since total lipid content may vary greatly with factors (such as reproductive processes) that are unrelated to specific feeding preferences.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the officers and crews of RV Polarstern and RV Yuzhmorgeologiya, as well as the chief scientists Professor V. Smetacek, Professor U. Bathmann and Dr. R. Hewitt for their professional and friendly support during the fieldwork. For their help during lipid extractions, we thank M. Harjes and T. Kreibich. This study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the joint project “Seasonal feeding strategies of Antarctic krill—Euphausia superba” (03PL025B/4).

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  1. Marine Zoology, University of Bremen, P.O. Box 33 04 40, 28334 , Bremen, Germany

    Dorothea Stübing & Wilhelm Hagen

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  1. Dorothea Stübing
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  2. Wilhelm Hagen
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Correspondence to Dorothea Stübing.

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Stübing, D., Hagen, W. Fatty acid biomarker ratios—suitable trophic indicators in Antarctic euphausiids?. Polar Biol 26, 774–782 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-003-0550-8

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