Ambient temperature and algal prey type affect essential fatty acid incorporation and trophic upgrading in a herbivorous marine copepod.

ABSTRACT: The essential fatty acids (EFA) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are critical nutrients for all organisms, and the temperature sensitivity of their trophic transfer in marine systems is of concern because of rising ocean temperatures. Laboratory-reared copepodites of the marine calanoid Calanus finmarchicus were used to test the effects of temperature (at 6°C, 12°C and increasing temperature stress) and prey type (the dinoflagellate Heterocapsa triquetra and the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii) on the extent and efficiency of dietary EPA and DHA incorporation from phytoplankton to copepods in a set of feeding experiments using ¹³C labelling. Temperature was a significant determinant of C. finmarchicus copepodites' EFA

SUBMITTER: Helenius L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7333969 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature