Linking biochemical and elemental composition in freshwater and marine crustacean zooplankton

Linking biochemical and elemental composition in freshwater and marine crustacean zooplankton

The major groups of biochemical compounds (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, chitin, nucleic acids and nucleotides) have a distinct functional role and, therefore, incorporation of biochemical interpretations into stoichiometric analysis would improve our current understanding of species life histories and their interactions. A review of the stoichiometric composition of the main biochemical com...

The Elemental Composition of Some Marine Phytoplankton

We analyzed the cellular content of C, N, P, S, K, Mg, Ca, Sr, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Co, Cd, and Mo in 15 marine eukaryotic phytoplankton species in culture representing the major marine phyla. All the organisms were grown under identical culture conditions, in a medium designed to allow rapid growth while minimizing precipitation of iron hydroxide. The cellular concentrations of all metals, phosphor...

Variability in amino acid composition of alpine crustacean zooplankton and its relationship with nitrogen-15 fractionation

Amino acids (AAs) are critical biochemical compounds for living organisms. Because of the limited capacity for their de novo synthesis in many animals, the nutritional value of food largely depends on its AA composition relative to the animal’s requirements. To improve present knowledge on AA variability in freshwater crustaceans, we studied the interand intraspecific variability in three contr...

Phosphorus distribution in three crustacean zooplankton species

The distribution of phosphorus (P) was assessed in homogeneously 33P-labeled Daphnia magna, Daphnia galeata and Eudiaptomus gracilis. The specific P contents were 1.48, 1.41, and 0.50% of dry weight (DW), respectively. The results support the view of low intraspecific variability in P : DW ratios in crustacean zooplankton. The fraction of P allocated to nucleic acids, phospholipids, and other P...

3 Freshwater Zooplankton