scholarly journals The emergence of fatty acids—Aquatic insects as vectors along a productivity gradient

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-578
Author(s):  
Kristin Scharnweber ◽  
Fernando Chaguaceda ◽  
Erik Dalman ◽  
Lars Tranvik ◽  
Peter Eklöv
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Aquatic Insects ◽  
Productivity Gradient

scholarly journals Preliminary Estimations of Insect Mediated Transfers of Mercury and Physiologically Important Fatty Acids from Water to Land

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydney Moyo
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Organic Contaminants ◽  
Aquatic Insects ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Aquatic Insect ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Energy Subsidy

Aquatic insects provide an energy subsidy to riparian food webs. However, most empirical studies have considered the role of subsidies only in terms of magnitude (using biomass measurements) and quality (using physiologically important fatty acids), negating an aspect of subsidies that may affect their impact on recipient food webs: the potential of insects to transport contaminants (e.g., mercury) to terrestrial ecosystems. To this end, I used empirical data to estimate the magnitude of nutrients (using physiologically important fatty acids as a proxy) and contaminants (total mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg)) exported by insects from rivers and lacustrine systems in each continent. The results reveal that North American rivers may export more physiologically important fatty acids per unit area (93.0 ± 32.6 Kg Km−2 year−1) than other continents. Owing to the amount of variation in Hg and MeHg, there were no significant differences in MeHg and Hg among continents in lakes (Hg: 1.5 × 10−4 to 1.0 × 10−3 Kg Km−2 year−1; MeHg: 7.7 × 10−5 to 1.0 × 10−4 Kg Km−2 year−1) and rivers (Hg: 3.2 × 10−4 to 1.1 × 10−3 Kg Km−2 year−1; MeHg: 3.3 × 10−4 to 8.9 × 10−4 Kg Km−2 year−1), with rivers exporting significantly larger quantities of mercury across all continents than lakes. Globally, insect export of physiologically important fatty acids by insect was estimated to be ~43.9 × 106 Kg year−1 while MeHg was ~649.6 Kg year−1. The calculated estimates add to the growing body of literature, which suggests that emerging aquatic insects are important in supplying essential nutrients to terrestrial consumers; however, with the increase of pollutants in freshwater systems, emergent aquatic insect may also be sentinels of organic contaminants to terrestrial consumers.

scholarly journals Cross-Ecosystem Linkages: Transfer of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids From Streams to Riparian Spiders via Emergent Insects

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Kowarik ◽  
Dominik Martin-Creuzburg ◽  
Christopher T. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids ◽  
Aquatic Insects ◽  
Benthic Algae ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Stearidonic Acid ◽  
Selective Foraging ◽  
Terrestrial Habitats ◽  
Total Fatty Acids ◽  
Web Building

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential resources unequally distributed throughout landscapes. Certain PUFAs, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), are common in aquatic but scarce in terrestrial ecosystems. In environments with low PUFA availability, meeting nutritional needs requires either adaptations in metabolism to PUFA-poor resources or selective foraging for PUFA-rich resources. Amphibiotic organisms that emerge from aquatic ecosystems represent important resources that can be exploited by predators in adjacent terrestrial habitats. Here, we traced PUFA transfer from streams to terrestrial ecosystems, considering benthic algae as the initial PUFA source, through emergent aquatic insects to riparian spiders. We combined carbon stable isotope and fatty acid analyses to follow food web linkages across the ecosystem boundary and investigated the influence of spider lifestyle (web building vs. ground dwelling), season, and ecosystem degradation on PUFA relations. Our data revealed that riparian spiders consumed considerable amounts of aquatic-derived resources. EPA represented on average 15 % of the total fatty acids in riparian spiders. Season had a strong influence on spider PUFA profiles, with highest EPA contents in spring. Isotope data revealed that web-building spiders contain more aquatic-derived carbon than ground dwelling spiders in spring, although both spider types had similarly high EPA levels. Comparing a natural with an anthropogenically degraded fluvial system revealed higher stearidonic acid (SDA) contents and Σω3/Σω6 ratios in spiders collected along the more natural river in spring but no difference in spider EPA content between systems. PUFA profiles of riparian spiders where distinct from other terrestrial organism and more closely resembled that of emergent aquatic insects (higher Σω3/Σω6 ratio). We show here that the extent to which riparian spiders draw on aquatic PUFA subsidies can vary seasonally and depends on the spider’s lifestyle, highlighting the complexity of aquatic-terrestrial linkages.

Aquatic insects rich in omega-3 fatty acids drive breeding success in a widespread bird

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 1812-1820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelia Wingfield Twining ◽  
Jeremy Ryan Shipley ◽  
David W. Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Breeding Success ◽  
Aquatic Insects ◽  
Omega 3 Fatty Acids ◽  
Omega 3

Fatty Acids and Glycerides

1979 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 813-814
Author(s):  
J. L. HARWOOD
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids

Antibacterial and antiparasitic activity of novel brominated vinylic fatty acids

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victorio Jauregui Matos ◽  
Denisse Alequín Torres ◽  
Néstor M. Carballeira ◽  
Rafael Balaña-Fouce ◽  
David J Sanabria Rios ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Antiparasitic Activity
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