Aquatic–terrestrial linkages: Export of polyunsaturated fatty acids from aquatic ecosystems via emerging insects and potential consequences for terrestrial invertebrate consumers
Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
Final Report Abstract
Freshwater and surrounding terrestrial ecosystems are tightly connected via bidirectional energy and nutrient fluxes (subsidies) that can support and maintain adjacent food webs. Emergent aquatic insects represent an important pathway through which energy and nutrients are transferred across aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem boundaries. During their larval stage, aquatic insects incorporate essential biochemical nutrients that derive from aquatic primary producers and eventually become available to riparian predators through the consumption of emergent aquatic insects. In contrast to many aquatic primary producers, terrestrial plants typically do not contain high amounts of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) giving rise to pronounced ecosystem differences regarding the availability of LC-PUFA. LC-PUFA, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), are required to sustain various physiological processes. Consumers that cannot biosynthesize LC-PUFA from C18 PUFA precursors rely on a dietary supply of LC-PUFA. The general aim of this project was to characterize the export of LC-PUFA via emergent insects from different lake ecosystems and to assess their potential importance for riparian predators. We collected aquatic emergent insects, terrestrial insects, and riparian spiders (ground-dwelling and web-building) from and around several lakes and used a combination of fatty acid analysis, bulk stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N), and compoundspecific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) to quantify LC-PUFA export and the incorporation of LC-PUFA into riparian predators. We demonstrate the importance of aquatic insects as a source of LC-PUFA for riparian predators. Emergent aquatic insect biomass and thus PUFA export was generally higher from shallower than deeper lakes and, within a lake, higher from shallower than deeper areas. We were also able to demonstrate the importance of lakes and riparian zones as critical habitats where riparian predators, such as web-building spiders, can have greater access to LC-PUFA as opposed to further inland habitats. Global warming may disrupt the timing of the bird-breading season and peak aquatic insect emergence, resulting in lower availability of physiologically important LC-PUFA for birds. We also show, however, that not all riparian predators rely on emergent aquatic insects as a source of LC-PUFA, because of effective bioconversion capacities. Overall, however, our data indicate that emergent aquatic insects are an important vector through which LC-PUFA can be transferred from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems. Future work can build on these findings and quantify LC-PUFA bioconversion capacities of other riparian consumers and to predict the consequences of climate change for aquatic-terrestrial linkages, potentially resulting in lower aquatic insect and thus LC-PUFA availability.
Publications
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Dietary availability determines metabolic conversion of long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in spiders: a dual compound‐specific stable isotope approach. Oikos, 2022(7).
Mathieu‐Resuge, Margaux; Pilecky, Matthias; Twining, Cornelia W.; Martin‐Creuzburg, Dominik; Parmar, Tarn Preet; Vitecek, Simon & Kainz, Martin J.
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Dietary nutrient export from hypereutrophic fishponds via emerging insects. Virtual conference of the European Federation for Freshwater Sciences (SEFS 12, talk).
Fehlinger, L., Mathieu-Resuge, Pilecky, M., Parmar, T. P., Twining, C. W., Martin-Creuzburg, D. & Kainz, M. J.
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Dual use of compound-specific stable isotopes reveals dietary PUFA conversion in consumers. Virtual conference of the European Federation for Freshwater Sciences (SEFS 12, talk).
Mathieu-Resuge, Pilecky M., Parmar, T. P., Twining, C. W., Parmar, T. P., Martin-Creuzburg, D., Vitecek, S. & Kainz, M. J.
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Fundamental differences in fatty acid composition between emergent aquatic and terrestrial insects. 35th Congress of the International Society of Limnology (SIL), Gwangju, Republic of Korea (talk).
Parmar, T. P., Kindinger, A. L., Mathieu-Resuge, M., Twining, C. W., Shipley, J. R., Kainz, M. J. & Martin-Creuzburg, D.
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Fundamental differences in fatty acid composition between emergent aquatic and terrestrial insects. Workshop: Aquatic Food Webs in Changing Environments. Lammi Biological Station, Finland (talk).
Parmar, T. P., Kindinger, A. L., Mathieu-Resuge, M., Twining, C. W., Shipley, J. R., Kainz, M. J. & Martin-Creuzburg, D.
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Taxonomic composition and lake bathymetry influence fatty acid export via emergent insects. Freshwater Biology, 66(12), 2199-2209.
Mathieu‐Resuge, Margaux; Martin‐Creuzburg, Dominik; Twining, Cornelia W.; Parmar, Tarn Preet; Hager, Hannes H. & Kainz, Martin J.
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Use of Fatty Acids From Aquatic Prey Varies With Foraging Strategy. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9.
Twining, Cornelia W.; Parmar, Tarn Preet; Mathieu-Resuge, Margaux; Kainz, Martin J.; Shipley, Jeremy Ryan & Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik
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Arthropod biodiversity increases energy and nutrient availability across terrestrial and aquatic food webs. 36th Congress of the International Society of Limnology (SIL) 2022 in Berlin, Germany (talk).
Twining, C. W., Matthews, B., Gossner, M., Parmar, T. P., Martin-Creuzburg, D., Mathieu-Resuge, M., Kainz, M. J., Oester, R., Weber, C., Graham, C. & Shipley, J. R.
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Climate change shifts the timing of nutritional flux from aquatic insects. Current Biology, 32(6), 1342-1349.e3.
Shipley, J. Ryan; Twining, Cornelia W.; Mathieu-Resuge, Margaux; Parmar, Tarn Preet; Kainz, Martin; Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik; Weber, Christine; Winkler, David W.; Graham, Catherine H. & Matthews, Blake
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Export of dietary lipids via emergent insects from eutrophic fishponds. 36th Congress of the International Society of Limnology (SIL), Berlin, Germany (talk).
Fehlinger, L., Mathieu-Resuge, M., Pilecky, M., Parmar, T. P., Twining, C. W., Martin-Creuzburg, D. & Kainz, M. J.
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Export of dietary lipids via emergent insects from eutrophic fishponds. Hydrobiologia, 850(15), 3241-3256.
Fehlinger, Lena; Mathieu-Resuge, Margaux; Pilecky, Matthias; Parmar, Tarn Preet; Twining, Cornelia W.; Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik & Kainz, Martin J.
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Fatty acid composition differs between emergent aquatic and terrestrial insects—A detailed single system approach. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10.
Parmar, Tarn Preet; Kindinger, Alina L.; Mathieu-Resuge, Margaux; Twining, Cornelia W.; Shipley, Jeremy Ryan; Kainz, Martin J. & Martin-Creuzburg, Dominik
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The penetration of essential aquatic nutrients into adjacent terrestrial habitats. 36th Congress of the International Society of Limnology (SIL) 2022 in Berlin, Germany (talk).
Parmar, T. P., Kindinger, A., Mathieu-Resuge, M., Twining, C. W., Shipley, J. R., Kainz, M. J. & Martin-Creuzburg, D.
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The penetration of essential aquatic nutrients into adjacent terrestrial habitats. International Association for Ecology (INTECOL), Geneva, Switzerland (talk).
Parmar, T. P., Kindinger, A., Mathieu-Resuge, M., Twining, C. W., Shipley, J. R., Kainz, M. J. & Martin-Creuzburg, D.
