The Daily Bulletin

Please join the Biology Department and the Great Lakes Center for the seminar “Fatty Acid: Markers as Food Web Tracers in Inland Waters,” presented by Olesia N. Makhutova, research scientist with the Great Lakes Center at Buffalo State University, today, February 12, at 3:00 p.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 151. Attendees are welcome to enjoy coffee and cookies during the seminar.

Abstract
Ecosystem functioning is based on fluxes of matter and energy in food webs. There are a number of methods for untangling food web interactions in aquatic ecosystems. In recent decades, fatty acids (FAs) have been widely used as food web tracers in aquatic ecosystems. Based on FAs, feeding spectra of many consumers have been specified. FA-marker analyses also contribute to differentiating between allochthonous and autochthonous organic matter inputs to food webs of inland water ecosystems. In this lecture, Dr. Makhutova will describe FAs and their use as food web markers in aquatic ecosystems and describe the identifying characteristics of FAs in the main taxonomic groups of organisms inhabiting freshwater ecosystems (bacteria, algae and other photosynthetic eukaryotes, non-photosynthetic eukaryotes).