Maternal diet of Daphnia magna affects offspring growth responses to supplementation with particular polyunsaturated fatty acids
- Previous studies examining the effects of food quality on zooplankton often controlled for maternal effects of resource provisioning using standardized maternal diets. However, varying nutritional history of mothers may change resource provisioning to their progeny, especially regarding polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which may change the interpretation of previously observed fitness responses of offspring. To assess PUFA-mediated maternal provisioning effects on offspring, we raised females of the cladoceran Daphnia magna on diets differing considerably in PUFA composition and raised their offspring on a PUFA-lacking diet supplemented with the omega 3 PUFAs alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and/or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The mass-specific growth responses of offspring to their own diets were affected by the maternal diet regime, probably due to varying maternal PUFA provisioning. A low maternal provisioning of EPA or ALA was sufficient to prevent growth limitation of offspring by these PUFAs until reaching maturity. A comparisonPrevious studies examining the effects of food quality on zooplankton often controlled for maternal effects of resource provisioning using standardized maternal diets. However, varying nutritional history of mothers may change resource provisioning to their progeny, especially regarding polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which may change the interpretation of previously observed fitness responses of offspring. To assess PUFA-mediated maternal provisioning effects on offspring, we raised females of the cladoceran Daphnia magna on diets differing considerably in PUFA composition and raised their offspring on a PUFA-lacking diet supplemented with the omega 3 PUFAs alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and/or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The mass-specific growth responses of offspring to their own diets were affected by the maternal diet regime, probably due to varying maternal PUFA provisioning. A low maternal provisioning of EPA or ALA was sufficient to prevent growth limitation of offspring by these PUFAs until reaching maturity. A comparison with results of published ALA and EPA supplementation experiments suggests that the previously observed limitation effects depended on the usage of a single algae genus as maternal diet. Therefore, we suggest that maternal diets should be deliberately varied in future studies assessing ecological relevant food quality effects on zooplankton, especially regarding PUFAs.…
Author details: | Erik SperfeldORCiDGND, Alexander WackerORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2244-y |
ISSN: | 0018-8158 |
ISSN: | 1573-5117 |
Title of parent work (English): | Hydrobiologia : acta hydrobiologica, hydrographica, limnologica et protistologica |
Publisher: | Springer |
Place of publishing: | Dordrecht |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2015 |
Publication year: | 2015 |
Release date: | 2017/03/27 |
Tag: | Food quality; Maternal effects; Nutritional ecology; Resource provisioning; Zooplankton |
Volume: | 755 |
Issue: | 1 |
Number of pages: | 16 |
First page: | 267 |
Last Page: | 282 |
Funding institution: | German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) [SP1473/1-1, WA2445/8-1] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
Peer review: | Referiert |