Seeding Food Innovation - Awarded Project 2016

Production and transfer of essential fatty acids in the ocean

Project Description

To begin to answer this question, we will follow three distinct lines of research. In our first objective, we will measure production rates of two common species of phytoplankton under different growth conditions to capture the variation in fatty acid production throughout the year. Data from these experiments will be used to validate and further refine an existing algorithm that derives fatty acid production from satellite-derived ocean colour measurements. As a second objective, we will determine the efficiency with which fatty acids are transferred from phytoplankton to copepods, a crucial link in energy transfer between primary producers and planktonic fish. These experiments will provide the first measurements of trophic transfer efficiencies of essential fatty acids in the marine environment. In the third objective, we will combine our validated algorithms with remotely sensed ocean colour data to estimate essential fatty acid production by phytoplankton. We will then apply our trophic transfer efficiencies to those production estimates to make a simple EFA budget for the Northwest Atlantic.

Relevance to food innovation:

All organisms have an absolute requirement for certain long chain omega-3 fatty acids but most animals, including humans, cannot synthesize these essential fatty acids in sufficient amounts to meet their needs and must rely on their food to meet their requirements. Most essential fatty acids in Canadian diets are originally derived from marine phytoplankton and are then transferred up the food chain. However, we know very little about the concentrations and rates of production of these critical nutrients in the ocean. We also do not know how efficiently these nutrients are transferred throughout food webs. Without this knowledge, we are unable to address even the simplest of questions regarding essential fatty acid availability to humans: Are levels of oceanic EFA production and harvest sustainable?

Anticipated outcome

Fisheries quotas and sustainable harvests are calculated only in terms of biomass production. Incorporation of essential fatty acids into models used to define those limits will allow managers to assess fisheries production relative to essential nutrients, a novel approach that will generate estimates that can be compared to estimated concentrations of essential fatty acids in fisheries removals. The approach we propose here can be extrapolated to other systems, allowing estimates of global oceanic essential fatty acid production. This has direct links to food security, both nationally and globally.

Grantees:

 

[Back]