Fatty acid profiles in the gonads of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis on natural algal diets

Kelly, Jonathan; Scheibling, Robert Eric; Iverson, Sara J.; Gagnon, Patrick

doi:10.3354/meps07746

Cited by 50 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The degradation and resuspension of this material could be contributing disproportionately to deep benthic food webs. Evidence for the increased use of macroalgal detritus by deep consumers may lie in the increased proportion of 20:4v6, a commonly reported brown-algal biomarker (Kelly and Scheibling 2012), by the suspension-feeding Psolus. However, the enrichment in d 13 C in deep suspension feeders is of the same magnitude as the enrichment in Strongylocentrotus, a direct herbivore (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We identified 54 different FA using a combination of GC-FID and GC-MS. Before breaking the analysis into within-species evaluations across depths (see below), we first evaluated the significance of the factor ''species'' with the entire FA dataset, and found FA signatures to be very different among species (see Results). For our depth comparisons of conspecifics, the mean proportion of each FA across all samples for each species was calculated, and all FA that constituted , 0.1% of the total for that species were removed (Kelly et al 2008; see ''nFA'' in Table 1). All subsequent FA analyses, on both consumers and algae, are therefore species specific, as different suites of FA passed this abundance test for each species (Table 1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, FA ''signatures'' for different sources can be quite informative as trophic markers (Budge et al 2006;Kelly and Scheibling 2012). FA can be used for qualitative assessment of trophic relationships (e.g., tracing presence of certain source-specific biomarkers), or for quantitative modeling of predator diet when FA signatures of all likely prey sources are known and fractionation of FA from diet to tissues of the consumer is accounted for (Iverson 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Much of what we know about trophic relationships between marine consumers and their prey is based upon inferences made from ''biomarker'' (e.g., multiple stable isotope [MSI] and fatty acid [FA]) signature analysis (Peterson 1999;Kelly and Scheibling 2012). There are two general methods for estimating the trophic pathways and importance of different energy sources to subtidal communities: a non-source-specific approach: calculate estimates of net primary productivity (NPP) and flux rates of various sources (Cebrian 1999), assuming that sources with the highest NPP are most important; or a potentially source-specific approach: examine differences in biomarker signatures of producers and track these biomarkers into consumer tissues (Dunton and Schell 1987;Duggins et al 1989).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Fatty acid and stable isotope biomarkers suggest microbe‐induced differences in benthic food webs between depths

Galloway

Lowe²,

Sosik

et al. 2013

Limnology & Oceanography

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Benthic marine consumers inhabiting the subphotic zone rely on subsidies of energy synthesized by macrophytes and phytoplankton in the photic zone. The effects of this energy subsidy on the trophic ecology of deep invertebrates are generally unknown. We used fatty acids (FA) and multiple stable isotopes (MSI) as trophic biomarkers to compare tissues from conspecifics of primary and secondary consumers in photic and subphotic habitats (15 and 100 m depth) at three sites in the San Juan Archipelago, Washington. FA composition differed across depths for all five species and MSI differed across depths for six of seven species. We found a general pattern of enrichment in d 13 C from shallow to deep for all consumers. d 15 N was consistently enriched in deep herbivores and suspension feeders, but did not differ in predators. Total v-3 FA were lower in deep primary consumers, whereas predator v-3 FA did not differ between depths. Total bacterial marker FA were lower in deep suspension feeders but higher in deep predators. The results suggest a possible mechanism for the differences in FA and enrichment between habitats: deep consumers potentially ingest detritus that has been biochemically altered by microbes during transport. We found support for this hypothetical mechanism in an algal aging experiment. Aged algae colonized by microbes responded with increases in bacterial FA, and decreases in v-3 FA. This study highlights the power of combining FA and MSI biomarkers, and provides evidence for the importance of organic matter degradation to food web studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fatty acid and stable isotope biomarkers suggest microbe‐induced differences in benthic food webs between depths

Galloway

Lowe²,

Sosik

et al. 2013

Limnology & Oceanography

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“…More sophisticated multivariate statistical analyses can provide a more quantitative analysis of patterns, and such techniques are emerging for use with fatty acids, especially from food web samples [119,120]. These authors used PRIMER (Plymouth Routines in Multivariate Ecological Research) to investigate algae feeding amphipods and sea urchins.…”

Section: Quantification Of Trophic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lipids in Marine Ecosystems

2013

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Lipids provide the densest form of energy in marine ecosystems. They are also a solvent and absorption carrier for organic contaminants and thus can be drivers of pollutant bioaccumulation. Among the lipids, certain essential fatty acids and sterols are considered to be important determinants of ecosystem health and stability. Fatty acids and sterols are also susceptible to oxidative damage leading to cytotoxicity and a decrease in membrane fluidity. The physical characteristics of biological membranes can be defended from the influence of changing temperature, pressure, or lipid peroxidation by altering the fatty acid and sterol composition of the lipid bilayer. Marine lipids are also a valuable tool to measure inputs, cycling, and loss of materials. Their heterogeneous nature makes them versatile biomarkers that are widely used in marine trophic studies, often with the help of multivariate statistics, to delineate carbon cycling and transfer of materials. Principal components analysis has a strong following as it permits data reduction and an objective interpretation of results, but several more sophisticated multivariate analyses which are more quantitative are emerging too. Integrating stable isotope and lipid data can facilitate the interpretation of both data sets and can provide a quantitative estimate of transfer across trophic levels.

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