TY - JOUR
T1 - Seagrass fatty acid profiles as a sensitive indicator of climate settings across seasons and latitudes
AU - Beca-Carretero, Pedro
AU - Guihéneuf, Freddy
AU - Krause-Jensen, Dorte
AU - Stengel, Dagmar B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are very grateful to the Associate Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and constructive criticisms during the review process. This project was supported by a College of Science ( NUI Galway ) PhD Scholarship to Pedro Beca-Carretero. The authors are grateful to the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service for granting permission to study Z. marina meadows in Connemara SACs. Also, the authors are grateful to Dr. Nuria Marba, Dr. Fernando Brun, Tomas Azcarate-Garcia and Dr. Rocio Jimenez-Ramos for collecting samples of seagrass for the latitudinal comparison. The study is also a contribution to the Greenland ecosystem monitoring program (g-e-m.dk) “Nuuk Basis”, which provided logistic support to sampling in Greenland.
Funding Information:
We are very grateful to the Associate Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and constructive criticisms during the review process. This project was supported by a College of Science (NUI Galway) PhD Scholarship to Pedro Beca-Carretero. The authors are grateful to the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service for granting permission to study Z. marina meadows in Connemara SACs. Also, the authors are grateful to Dr. Nuria Marba, Dr. Fernando Brun, Tomas Azcarate-Garcia and Dr. Rocio Jimenez-Ramos for collecting samples of seagrass for the latitudinal comparison. The study is also a contribution to the Greenland ecosystem monitoring program (g-e-m.dk) “Nuuk Basis”, which provided logistic support to sampling in Greenland.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/10/1
Y1 - 2020/10/1
N2 - Zostera marina is a dominant meadow-forming seagrass in temperate regions in the northern hemisphere. Here, fatty acid content and composition, and pigmentation, in leaves were evaluated across temporal (April, July, November −2015 and January-2016) and latitudinal (Greenland to southern Spain) environmental gradients. Content of total fatty acids (TFA) in samples collected in Ireland during warmer periods (summer) was 2–3 times lower than in winter and exhibited a lower proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which have high high-nutritional value relative to saturated fatty acids (SAFA). The latitudinal comparison (Greenland to southern Spain) revealed a clear reduction in the proportion n-3 PUFAs and an increase in n-6 PUFA and SAFA, which correlated with the rise in temperature towards southern locations, which correlated with the rise in temperature towards south. Results indicate that future warming may negatively affect its lipid nutritional value. These results demonstrate the capacity of seagrasses to adjust their lipid composition to achieve optimal membrane functionality, suggesting the potential use of FA as an eco-physiological indicator of global change conditions. The results also suggest that future warming may negatively affect the lipid nutritional value of seagrasses.
AB - Zostera marina is a dominant meadow-forming seagrass in temperate regions in the northern hemisphere. Here, fatty acid content and composition, and pigmentation, in leaves were evaluated across temporal (April, July, November −2015 and January-2016) and latitudinal (Greenland to southern Spain) environmental gradients. Content of total fatty acids (TFA) in samples collected in Ireland during warmer periods (summer) was 2–3 times lower than in winter and exhibited a lower proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which have high high-nutritional value relative to saturated fatty acids (SAFA). The latitudinal comparison (Greenland to southern Spain) revealed a clear reduction in the proportion n-3 PUFAs and an increase in n-6 PUFA and SAFA, which correlated with the rise in temperature towards southern locations, which correlated with the rise in temperature towards south. Results indicate that future warming may negatively affect its lipid nutritional value. These results demonstrate the capacity of seagrasses to adjust their lipid composition to achieve optimal membrane functionality, suggesting the potential use of FA as an eco-physiological indicator of global change conditions. The results also suggest that future warming may negatively affect the lipid nutritional value of seagrasses.
KW - Biochemical plasticity
KW - Heatwave
KW - Ireland
KW - Nutritional value
KW - Omega-3
KW - Photosynthetic pigments
KW - Polyunsaturated fatty acids
KW - Saturated fatty acids
KW - Zostera marina
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088795708&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105075
DO - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105075
M3 - Article
C2 - 32739623
AN - SCOPUS:85088795708
SN - 0141-1136
VL - 161
JO - Marine Environmental Research
JF - Marine Environmental Research
M1 - 105075
ER -