Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web
We assessed the potential of fatty acid (FA) markers for tracing primary production from an invasive green alga (Codium fragile ssp. fragile) and a native kelp (Saccharina longicruris) through 2 trophic levels in an experimental food web: a primary consumer, the green sea urchin Strongylocentrotus d...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08234 http://hdl.handle.net/10222/29639 |
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ftdalhouse:oai:DalSpace.library.dal.ca:10222/29639 2023-05-15T17:45:39+02:00 Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web Kelly, Jennifer R. Scheibling, Robert Eric Iverson, Sara J. 2013-07-04T18:44:24Z https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08234 http://hdl.handle.net/10222/29639 unknown Marine Ecology Progress Series Kelly, Jennifer R., Robert E. Scheibling, and Sara J. Iverson. 2009. "Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web." Marine Ecology Progress Series 391: 53-63. doi:10.3354/meps08234 0171-8630 http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps08234 http://hdl.handle.net/10222/29639 391 53 Copyright © 2009 Inter-Research article 2013 ftdalhouse https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08234 2021-12-29T18:08:50Z We assessed the potential of fatty acid (FA) markers for tracing primary production from an invasive green alga (Codium fragile ssp. fragile) and a native kelp (Saccharina longicruris) through 2 trophic levels in an experimental food web: a primary consumer, the green sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, and 2 secondary consumers, the native rock crab Cancer irroratus and invasive green crab Carcinus maenas. Sea urchins fed the 2 algal species had distinct gonadal FA compositions, and contained markers of each alga. Crabs of each species were then fed the gonads of sea urchins which had been fed either S. longicruris or C. fragile, and their hepatopancreases were analyzed. We were able to distinguish crabs of both species with C. fragile at the base of the food chain using the marker FAs 16:3n-3 and 18:3n-3. The overall FA composition of the hepatopancreas differed with diet in the green crab but not the rock crab. Our results suggest that 16:3n-3 may be a useful marker for tracing C. fragile production in grazers and some secondary consumers in rocky subtidal habitats in the Northwest Atlantic, but signal attenuation with each trophic transfer will limit the utility of this approach in higher consumers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Atlantic Dalhousie University: DalSpace Institutional Repository Marine Ecology Progress Series 391 53 63 |
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Dalhousie University: DalSpace Institutional Repository |
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We assessed the potential of fatty acid (FA) markers for tracing primary production from an invasive green alga (Codium fragile ssp. fragile) and a native kelp (Saccharina longicruris) through 2 trophic levels in an experimental food web: a primary consumer, the green sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, and 2 secondary consumers, the native rock crab Cancer irroratus and invasive green crab Carcinus maenas. Sea urchins fed the 2 algal species had distinct gonadal FA compositions, and contained markers of each alga. Crabs of each species were then fed the gonads of sea urchins which had been fed either S. longicruris or C. fragile, and their hepatopancreases were analyzed. We were able to distinguish crabs of both species with C. fragile at the base of the food chain using the marker FAs 16:3n-3 and 18:3n-3. The overall FA composition of the hepatopancreas differed with diet in the green crab but not the rock crab. Our results suggest that 16:3n-3 may be a useful marker for tracing C. fragile production in grazers and some secondary consumers in rocky subtidal habitats in the Northwest Atlantic, but signal attenuation with each trophic transfer will limit the utility of this approach in higher consumers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kelly, Jennifer R. Scheibling, Robert Eric Iverson, Sara J. |
spellingShingle |
Kelly, Jennifer R. Scheibling, Robert Eric Iverson, Sara J. Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web |
author_facet |
Kelly, Jennifer R. Scheibling, Robert Eric Iverson, Sara J. |
author_sort |
Kelly, Jennifer R. |
title |
Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web |
title_short |
Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web |
title_full |
Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web |
title_fullStr |
Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web |
title_sort |
fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08234 http://hdl.handle.net/10222/29639 |
genre |
Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northwest Atlantic |
op_relation |
Marine Ecology Progress Series Kelly, Jennifer R., Robert E. Scheibling, and Sara J. Iverson. 2009. "Fatty acids tracers for native and invasive macroalgae in an experimental food web." Marine Ecology Progress Series 391: 53-63. doi:10.3354/meps08234 0171-8630 http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps08234 http://hdl.handle.net/10222/29639 391 53 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2009 Inter-Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08234 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
391 |
container_start_page |
53 |
op_container_end_page |
63 |
_version_ |
1766148845110034432 |