ArticleJournal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology2010
Validating quantitative fatty acid signature analysis to estimate diets of spectacled and Steller's eiders (Somateria fischeri and Polysticta stelleri).
Article in Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- QFASA: A Comprehensive R Package for Diet Estimation via Fatty Acid Signature Analysis.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The importance of method selection when estimating diet composition with quantitative fatty acid signature analysis.PloS one · 2025Article
- Oxidative stress and growth performance are modulated by polyunsaturated fatty acids in Arctic charr, brook charr and their reciprocal hybrids.Conservation physiology · 2025Article
- Fatty acid profiles of feeding and fasting bears: estimating calibration coefficients, the timeframe of diet estimates, and selective mobilization during hibernation.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2022Article
- Assessing the Reliability of Quantitative Fatty Acid Signature Analysis and Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis-Based Mixing Models for Trophic Studies.Biomolecules · 2021Article
- Nutritional consequences of breeding away from riparian habitats in Bank Swallows: new evidence from multiple endogenous markers.Conservation physiology · 2021Article
- Evaluating the performance of the Bayesian mixing tool MixSIAR with fatty acid data for quantitative estimation of diet.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Unlocking the power of fatty acids as dietary tracers and metabolic signals in fishes and aquatic invertebrates.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Dietary fat concentrations influence fatty acid assimilation patterns in Atlantic pollock (Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- The critical importance of experimentation in biomarker-based trophic ecology.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Simultaneous estimation of diet composition and calibration coefficients with fatty acid signature data.Ecology and evolution · 2017Article
- Distance measures and optimization spaces in quantitative fatty acid signature analysis.Ecology and evolution · 2015Article
- Article
- Physiological constraints and the influence of diet on fatty acids in the yolk of gentoo penguins, Pygoscelis papua.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2012Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fatty acid (FA) signature analysis has been used to study foraging ecology and food webs in marine ecosystems. This powerful method provides information about diets over an extended time period (e.g., 2-4 weeks), rather than just the most recent meal as with most traditional approaches. Using consumer FA signatures, along with a comprehensive database of diet FA signatures, and accounting for consumer FA metabolism, it is possible to estimate the proportions of diet items in the consumer's diet using quantitative FA signature analysis (QFASA). However, before applying QFASA to free-ranging populations, ideally, controlled feeding studies are performed to determine FA deposition and turnover characteristics. We conducted feeding experiments to validate QFASA in captive spectacled eiders (Somateria fischeri) and Steller's eiders (Polysticta stelleri) as a minimally invasive method for studying the diets of these threatened species. We determined FA deposition in eider adipose tissue relative to long-term diet, and developed calibration coefficients (CCs) to account for eider lipid metabolism. Using these CCs with subsequent diet trials, QFASA accurately indicated diet and diet switches. QFASA estimates also indicated that turnover of dietary FAs was not complete by 21 or 29 days, and confirmed that diets could be estimated over an extended period of >29 days. Thus, our understanding of diet can be backtracked to more than a month in captive feeding eiders. We conclude that applying QFASA techniques to eiders and other birds in the wild has the potential to provide valuable information about their diets at various life history stages.
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