Fatty acid analyses provide novel insights on hippo defecation and consequences for aquatic food webs.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Dawson J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7374712 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Fatty acid analyses provide novel insights on hippo defecation and consequences for aquatic food webs.
Dawson Jessica J Pillay Deena D Perissinotto Renzo R Richoux Nicole B NB
Scientific reports 20200721 1
By defecating grasses into aquatic systems at massive scales and intensities, hippos can initiate complex changes to aquatic ecosystems. However, consequent effects on food webs are not well understood, particularly regarding shifts in basal resource contributions to consumer diets and their physiological condition. Here, we use fatty acid analysis to show that dense hippo aggregations and high dung loading are associated with (1) alterations to basal resource pools, (2) reduced quality of sedim ...[more]
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