Abstract
AbstractThe River Continuum Concept implies that consumers in headwater streams have greater dietary access to terrestrial basal resources, but recent studies have highlighted the dietary importance of high-quality algae. Algae provide consumers with physiologically important omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). However, terrestrial plants and most benthic stream algae lack the long-chain (LC) n-3 PUFA docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), which is essential for neural development in fish and other vertebrates. We sampled subalpine streams to investigate how the PUFA composition of neural (brain and eyes), muscle, and liver tissues of freshwater fish is related to their potential diets (macroinvertebrates, epilithon, fresh and conditioned terrestrial leaves). The PUFA composition of consumers was more similar to epilithon than to terrestrial leaves. Storage lipids of eyes most closely resembled dietary PUFA (aquatic invertebrates and algae). However, DHA and arachidonic acid (ARA, 20:4n-6) were not directly available in the diet but abundant in organs. This implies that algal PUFA were selectively retained or were produced internally via enzymatic PUFA conversion by aquatic consumers. This field study demonstrates the nutritional importance of algal PUFA for neural organs in aquatic consumers of headwater regions.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference77 articles.
1. Agaba, M. K., D. R. Tocher, X. Zheng, C. A. Dickson, J. R. Dick & A. J. Teale, 2005. Cloning and functional characterisation of polyunsaturated fatty acid elongases of marine and freshwater teleost fish. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part B 142: 342–352.
2. Ahlgren, G., P. Blomqvist, M. Boberg & I.-B. Gustafsson, 1994. Fatty acid content of the dorsal muscle—an indicator of fat quality in freshwater fish. Journal of Fish Biology 45: 131–157.
3. Ahlgren, G., T. Vrede & W. Goedkoop, 2009. Fatty acid ratios in freshwater fish, zooplankton and zoobenthos—are there specific optima? In Arts, M. T., M. T. Brett & M. J. Kainz (eds), Lipids in Aquatic Ecosystems. Springer, New York: 147–178.
4. Amlund, H., L. Andreasen & B. E. Torstensen, 2012. Dietary methylmercury and vegetable oil affects brain lipid composition in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Food and Chemical Toxicology Elsevier Ltd 50: 518–525.
5. Arts, M. T., M. T. Brett & M. J. Kainz, 2009. Lipids in aquatic ecosystems. Springer, New York.
Cited by
35 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献