A test of freshwater zooplankton essential fatty acid bioconversion potential and demographic costs at the planktonic plant-animal interface

必需脂肪酸(EFA)只由植物合成，并通过食物网生物积累到经济上重要的生物，如食用鱼。海洋和淡水浮游植物几乎是最关键的omega-3脂肪酸的唯一来源。EFA在动物(包括人类)中具有广泛的生理作用，是所有动物饮食的关键成分。这项提案将研究EFA如何从浮游植物转移到草食性浮游动物，最后转移到经济上重要的食用鱼。这项研究还将测试浮游动物是否可以通过生物转化相关脂肪酸来满足它们对特定EFA的营养需求，以及饮食omega6：omega3的比例是否对这些转化有重要影响。这将通过喂养浮游动物稳定的同位素标记的EFA，并跟踪标记的脂肪酸在浮游动物和食用它们的鱼类中的命运来完成。了解EFA是如何通过水生食物网转化和转移的引起了广泛的兴趣，因为这些分子对广泛的水生生物(即软体动物、甲壳类和鱼类)以及人类来说都是至关重要的。拟议的研究有可能为水生食物网相互作用、渔业生产和人类营养等广泛问题提供重要的见解。

Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are only synthesized by plants and are bioaccumulated through food webs to economically important organisms such as food fish. Marine and freshwater phytoplankton are the near exclusive source of the most critical omega-3 EFAs. EFAs have a wide range of physiological roles in animals (including humans) and are critical components of all animal diets. This proposal will examine how EFAs are transferred from phytoplankton to herbivorous zooplankton and finally to economically important food fish. This research will also test whether zooplankton can meet their nutritional demands for specific EFAs by bioconverting related fatty acids, as well as whether dietary omega6:omega3 ratios have an important impact on these conversions. This will be done by feeding zooplankton stable isotope labeled EFAs and following the fate of labeled fatty acids within the zooplankton and fish that consume them.Understanding how EFAs are transformed and transferred through aquatic food webs is of broad interest because these molecules are critical for a wide range of aquatic organisms (i.e. mollusks, crustaceans and fish) as well as humans. The proposed research has the potential to provide important insights for issues as wide ranging as aquatic food web interactions, fisheries production and human nutrition.