Tracing aquatic food webs using fatty acids: from qualitative indicators to quantitative determination

Iverson, Sara J.

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-89366-2_12

Cited by 205 publications

(303 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Fatty acids have often been broadly used as biomarkers in trophic transfer studies in aquatic food webs (e.g., [96][97][98]) and now they are being increasingly used for analysing terrestrial food webs as well [99]. Information provided by these markers may be used to delineate carbon cycling and transfer of material through food webs especially when analysed with multivariate statistics (see below).…”

Section: Molecular Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ANOSIM and SIMPER provide a more quantitative analysis of patterns in the lower food web, but they do not provide quantitative estimates of predator diets as can be done at higher trophic levels [96,98]. Prey consumption of seals, seabirds, and polar bears has been estimated by statistically comparing predator fatty acid signatures with those of their potential prey.…”

Section: Quantification Of Trophic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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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Section: Molecular Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Quantification Of Trophic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lipids in Marine Ecosystems

2013

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“…Fatty acid (FA) analysis is a powerful ecological tool for discerning trophic relationships in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Dalsgaard et al 2003, Budge et al 2006, Iverson 2009). Unlike traditional methods of studying diet, such as gut content analysis, FA profiles of consumers can provide information that is neither biased towards food items with hard parts, nor representative of only the last meal (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generally, these FAs are passed up the food chain in a predictable manner such that a consumer's FA composition will be strongly influenced by that of its diet (e.g. Graeve et al 1994, Rooker et al 2006) and this potentially allows estimation of dietary composition, at least in higher order consumers (Iverson et al 2004, Iverson 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Kelly

Scheibling²,

Iverson³

et al. 2008

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…This phenomenon is best known for FAs, a component of both eukaryotic and bacterial cell membranes that can provide a quantitative measure of food web linkages (Iverson, 2009). In seep settings, key FA biomarkers include 16:1(nÀ7) and 18:1(nÀ7) that are abundant in sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (McCaffrey et al, 1989), the aforementioned 16:1(nÀ5) and cyc17w5,6 that are abundant in sulfate-reducing bacteria (Elvert et al, 2003;Blumenberg et al, 2004), and 16:1(nÀ6) and 16:1(nÀ8) that are indicative of type I aerobic bacterial methanotrophs (Bowman et al, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaea in metazoan diets: implications for food webs and biogeochemical cycling

et al. 2012

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Although the importance of trophic linkages, including 'top-down forcing', on energy flow and ecosystem productivity is recognized, the influence of metazoan grazing on Archaea and the biogeochemical processes that they mediate is unknown. Here, we test if: (1) Archaea provide a food source sufficient to allow metazoan fauna to complete their life cycle; (2) neutral lipid biomarkers (including crocetane) can be used to identify Archaea consumers; and (3) archaeal aggregates are a dietary source for methane seep metazoans. In the laboratory, we demonstrated that a dorvilleid polychaete, Ophryotrocha labronica, can complete its life cycle on two strains of Euryarchaeota with the same growth rate as when fed bacterial and eukaryotic food. Archaea were therefore confirmed as a digestible and nutritious food source sufficient to sustain metazoan populations. Both strains of Euryarchaeota used as food sources had unique lipids that were not incorporated into O. labronica tissues. At methane seeps, sulfate-reducing bacteria that form aggregations and live syntrophically with anaerobic-methane oxidizing Archaea contain isotopically and structurally unique fatty acids (FAs). These biomarkers were incorporated into tissues of an endolithofaunal dorvilleid polychaete species from Costa Rica (mean bulk d 13 C ¼ À92±4%; polar lipids À116%) documenting consumption of archaeal-bacterial aggregates. FA composition of additional softsediment methane seep species from Oregon and California provided evidence that consumption of archaeal-bacterial aggregates is widespread at methane seeps. This work is the first to show that Archaea are consumed by heterotrophic metazoans, a trophic process we coin as 'archivory'.

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Tracing aquatic food webs using fatty acids: from qualitative indicators to quantitative determination

Cited by 205 publications

References 73 publications

Lipids in Marine Ecosystems

Lipids in Marine Ecosystems

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

Archaea in metazoan diets: implications for food webs and biogeochemical cycling

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