Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 270, Issue 1520, Pages 1209-1214Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2003.2357
Keywords
food quality; fatty acid; polyunsaturated fatty acid; Daphnia; cyanobacteria; sterol
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A key process in freshwater plankton food webs is the regulation of the efficiency of energy and material transfer. Cyanobacterial carbon (C) in particular is transferred very inefficiently to herbivorous zooplankton, which leads to a decoupling of primary and secondary production and the accumulation of cyanobacterial biomass, which is associated with reduced recreational quality of water bodies and hazards to human health. A recent correlative field study suggested that the low transfer efficiency of cyanobacterial C is the result of the absence of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the diet of the zooplankton. By supplementation of single-lipid compounds in controlled growth experiments, we show here that the low C transfer efficiency of coccal and filamentous cyanobacteria to the keystone herbivore Daphnia is caused by the low sterol content in cyanobacteria, which constrains cholesterol synthesis and thereby growth and reproduction of the herbivore. Estimations of sterol requirement in Daphnia suggest that, when cyanobacteria comprise more than 80% of the grazed phytoplankton, growth of the herbivore may be limited by sterols and Daphnia may subsequently fail to control phytoplankton biomass. Dietary sterols therefore may play a key role in freshwater food webs and in the control of water quality in lakes dominated by cyanobacteria.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available