Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Dietary Supplementation of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: November 29, 2013
Amphibia as a Vector of Transfer of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Omega-3 Fatty Acids from Aquatic to Terrestrial
M V Yermokhin1, N N Sushchik2,3, V G Tabachishin4
1Saratov State National Research University, Saratov, 410012, Russia. yermokhinmv@yandex.ru.
Abstract:
The flow of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) of the omega-3 family, namely, eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3, EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA), exported by amphibian metamorphs from water to terrestrial ecosystems in the Medveditsa River floodplain, was quantified for the first time. The total biomass export by three amphibian species (Pelobates fuscus, Bombina bombina, and Pelophylax ridibundus) per unit area of the lake surface was 0.594 g/m2 per year (as a mean for 2 years). The biomass flow per unit area of land was 0.726 g/ha per year (0.302 g/ha per year for organic carbon) in 2015-2016. The average annual total removal of EPA + DHA by amphibians from the floodplain lake was 1.47 mg/m2 of water surface area. Due to the high content of EPA and DHA in biomass, amphibians are potentially a valuable food for terrestrial predators having no access to other sources of essential PUFAs.
More Related Videos
09:35Fluorescently Labeled Bacteria as a Tracer to Reveal Novel Pathways of Organic Carbon Flow in Aquatic Ecosystems
Published on: September 13, 2019
11:14Fatty Acid 13C Isotopologue Profiling Provides Insight into Trophic Carbon Transfer and Lipid Metabolism of Invertebrate Consumers
Published on: April 17, 2018
Related Concept Videos
What is an Ecosystem?
The Soil Ecosystem
Overview of Fatty Acid Metabolism
Fatty acids are catabolized in a process called beta-oxidation, which takes place in the matrix of the mitochondria and converts their fatty acid chains into two-carbon units of acetyl groups. The acetyl...
The Sulfur Cycle
Structure of Lipids
Electron Transport Chains
The ETC is comprised of...