TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wacker, Alexander
A1  - Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik
T1  - Biochemical nutrient requirements of the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus co-limitation by sterols and amino acids
T2  - Functional ecology : an official journal of the British Ecological Society
N2  - It has been proposed that growth and reproduction of animals is frequently limited by multiple nutrients simultaneously. To improve our understanding of the consequences of multiple nutrient limitations (i.e. co-limitation) for the performance of animals, we conducted standardized population growth experiments using an important aquatic consumer, the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus. We compared nutrient profiles (sterols, fatty acids and amino acids) of rotifers and their diets to reveal consumerdiet imbalances and thus potentially limiting nutrients. In concomitant growth experiments, we directly supplemented potentially limiting substances (sterols, fatty acids, amino acids) to a nutrient-deficient diet, the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus, and recorded population growth rates. The results from the supplementation experiments corroborated the nutrient limitations predicted by assessing consumerdiet imbalances, but provided more detailed information on co-limiting nutrients. While the fatty acid deficiency of the cyanobacterium appeared to be of minor importance, the addition of both cholesterol and certain amino acids (leucine and isoleucine) improved population growth rates of rotifers, indicating a simultaneous limitation by sterols and amino acids. Our results add to growing evidence that consumers frequently face multiple nutrient limitations and suggest that the concept of co-limitation has to be considered in studies assessing nutrient-limited growth responses of consumers.
KW  - consumer
KW  - consumer-diet imbalance
KW  - dietary mismatch
KW  - fatty acid
KW  - global change
KW  - lipid
KW  - nutrition
KW  - phytoplankton
KW  - tetrahymanol
KW  - zooplankton
Y1  - 2012
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/35612
SN  - 0269-8463
VL  - 26
IS  - 5
SP  - 1135
EP  - 1143
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -