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）仅由植物合成，并通过食物网生物积累到重要的经济生物体，如食用鱼。 海洋和淡水浮游植物几乎是最重要的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。 该提案将研究EFAs如何从浮游植物转移到食草性浮游动物，并最终转移到具有重要经济意义的食用鱼。 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其对特定EFA的营养需求，以及饮食中的ω 6：ω 3比例是否对这些转化产生重要影响。 这将通过喂养浮游动物稳定同位素标记的EFA和以下标记的脂肪酸在浮游动物和鱼类的命运，消费them.Understanding如何EFA是通过水生食物网转化和转移是广泛的兴趣，因为这些分子是至关重要的广泛的水生生物（即软体动物，甲壳类动物和鱼类）以及人类。 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.