Fatty acid profiles of great tit (Parus major) eggs differ between urban and rural habitats, but not between coniferous and deciduous forests
Toledo, Alejandra ; Andersson, Martin N LU ; Wang, Hong-Lei LU ; Salmon, Pablo LU ; Watson, Hannah LU ; Burdge, Graham C. and Isaksson, Caroline LU
(2016)
In Naturwissenschaften
103(7-8).
- Abstract
- Early-life nutrition is an important determinant of both short- and long-term performance and fitness. The avian embryo develops within an enclosed package of nutrients, of which fatty acids (FA) are essential for many aspects of development. The FA composition of yolk depends on maternal nutrition and condition prior to egg formation, which may be affected by the external environment. To test if maternal environment affects yolk FA composition, we investigated whether the FA composition of great tit (Parus major) egg yolks differed between urban and rural habitats, and between deciduous and coniferous habitats. The results reveal differences in FA composition between eggs laid in urban and rural habitats, but not between eggs from... (More)
- Early-life nutrition is an important determinant of both short- and long-term performance and fitness. The avian embryo develops within an enclosed package of nutrients, of which fatty acids (FA) are essential for many aspects of development. The FA composition of yolk depends on maternal nutrition and condition prior to egg formation, which may be affected by the external environment. To test if maternal environment affects yolk FA composition, we investigated whether the FA composition of great tit (Parus major) egg yolks differed between urban and rural habitats, and between deciduous and coniferous habitats. The results reveal differences in FA composition between eggs laid in urban and rural habitats, but not between eggs from the coniferous and deciduous habitats. To a large extent, this difference likely reflects dietary differences associated with urban habitats rather than dominating vegetation type. Specifically, urban yolks contained lower proportions of both ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated FAs (PUFA), which are important for chick development. We also found a positive association between the proportion of saturated fatty acids and laying date, and a negative association between the proportion of ω-6 PUFA and clutch size. Given that urbanization is expanding rapidly, future studies should investigate whether factors such as anthropogenic food in the urban environment underlie these differences and whether they impair chick development. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/fe00be08-fa36-4e76-8a12-a60e9c55d886
- author
- Toledo, Alejandra
; Andersson, Martin N
LU
; Wang, Hong-Lei
LU
; Salmon, Pablo
LU
; Watson, Hannah
LU
; Burdge, Graham C.
and Isaksson, Caroline
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016-06-14
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Anthropogenic, Development, Nutrition, Incubation, Maternal effects, Polyunsaturated fatty acids
- in
- Naturwissenschaften
- volume
- 103
- issue
- 7-8
- article number
- 55
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84975311573
- pmid:27300022
- wos:000382121200006
- ISSN
- 0028-1042
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00114-016-1381-0
- project
- Urbanization and its impact on birds
- Avian nutrition and metabolism
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fe00be08-fa36-4e76-8a12-a60e9c55d886
- date added to LUP
- 2016-08-02 12:07:41
- date last changed
- 2023-01-06 07:09:55
@article{fe00be08-fa36-4e76-8a12-a60e9c55d886,
abstract = {{Early-life nutrition is an important determinant of both short- and long-term performance and fitness. The avian embryo develops within an enclosed package of nutrients, of which fatty acids (FA) are essential for many aspects of development. The FA composition of yolk depends on maternal nutrition and condition prior to egg formation, which may be affected by the external environment. To test if maternal environment affects yolk FA composition, we investigated whether the FA composition of great tit (<i>Parus major</i>) egg yolks differed between urban and rural habitats, and between deciduous and coniferous habitats. The results reveal differences in FA composition between eggs laid in urban and rural habitats, but not between eggs from the coniferous and deciduous habitats. To a large extent, this difference likely reflects dietary differences associated with urban habitats rather than dominating vegetation type. Specifically, urban yolks contained lower proportions of both ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated FAs (PUFA), which are important for chick development. We also found a positive association between the proportion of saturated fatty acids and laying date, and a negative association between the proportion of ω-6 PUFA and clutch size. Given that urbanization is expanding rapidly, future studies should investigate whether factors such as anthropogenic food in the urban environment underlie these differences and whether they impair chick development.}},
author = {{Toledo, Alejandra and Andersson, Martin N and Wang, Hong-Lei and Salmon, Pablo and Watson, Hannah and Burdge, Graham C. and Isaksson, Caroline}},
issn = {{0028-1042}},
keywords = {{Anthropogenic; Development; Nutrition; Incubation; Maternal effects; Polyunsaturated fatty acids}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
number = {{7-8}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Naturwissenschaften}},
title = {{Fatty acid profiles of great tit (<i>Parus major</i>) eggs differ between urban and rural habitats, but not between coniferous and deciduous forests}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-016-1381-0}},
doi = {{10.1007/s00114-016-1381-0}},
volume = {{103}},
year = {{2016}},
}