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Heterotrophic protists; algae; essential fatty acids; nutrient upgrading; docosahexaenoic acid; eicosapentaenoic acid; phytoplankton-heterotrophic protist interface
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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Quantitative Significance Of N-3 Essential Fatty Acid Contribution By Heterotrophic Protists In Marine Pelagic Food Webs, Fu-Lin E. Chu, Eric D. Lund, Jennifer A. Podbesek
Quantitative Significance Of N-3 Essential Fatty Acid Contribution By Heterotrophic Protists In Marine Pelagic Food Webs, Fu-Lin E. Chu, Eric D. Lund, Jennifer A. Podbesek
VIMS Articles
To assess the contribution of n-3 essential lipids by heterotrophic protists in the pelagic food webs, we examined the kinetics and efficiency of long-chain n-3 essential fatty acid (LCn-3EFA) production of 2 common heterotrophic protists, Oxyrrhis marina and Gyrodinium dominans, fed an alga (Dunaliella tertiolecta) deficient in both eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). D. tertiolecta was rapidly ingested and consumed by the heterotrophic protists. Growth rates ranged from 0.77 to 0.82 and 0.78 to 0.92 d(-1) in O. marina and G. dominans, respectively. LCn-3EFA production in the 2 heterotrophic protists reached the highest levels at the highest protist …