Evidence now suggests that the roles of essential fatty acids as growth promoters and as indices of health and nutrition are fundamentally similar in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Lipids in Aquatic Ecosystems integrates this divergent literature into a coordinated, digestible form. Chapters are organized so as to discuss and synthesize the flow of lipids from lower to higher trophic levels, up to and including humans. Linkages between the production, distribution and pathways of these essential compounds within the various levels of the aquatic food webs, and their ultimate uptake by humans and other terrestrial organisms, are highlighted throughout the book. This book will be of interest to researchers and resource managers working with aquatic ecosystems.

InhaltsangabePreface.- Introduction.- Algal Lipids and Effect of the Environment on their Biochemistry.- Formation and transfer of fatty acids in aquatic microbial food webs - role of heterotrophic protists.- Ecological significance of sterols in aquatic food webs.- Fatty acids and oxylipins as semiochemicals.- Integrating lipids and contaminants in aquatic ecology and ecotoxicology.- Crustacean zooplankton fatty acid composition.- Fatty acid ratios in freshwater fish, zooplankton and zoobenthos - are there specific optima?- Preliminary estimates of the export of omega-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (EPA+DHA) from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems.- Biosynthesis of polyunsaturated fatty acids in aquatic ecosystems: general pathways and new directions.- Health and condition in fish: the influence of lipids on membrane competency and immune response.- Lipids in marine copepods: latitudinal characteristics and perspective to global warming.- Lipids in marine copepods: latitudinal characteristics and perspective to global warming.- Tracing aquatic food webs using fatty acids: from qualitative indicators to quantitative determination.- Essential fatty acids in aquatic food webs.- Human life: caught in the food web.