Fatty acid analyses provide novel insights on hippo defecation and consequences for aquatic food webs

Dawson, Jessica; Pillay, Deena; Perissinotto, Renzo; Richoux, Nicole B

Title: Fatty acid analyses provide novel insights on hippo defecation and consequences for aquatic food webs
Creator: Dawson, Jessica
Creator: Pillay, Deena
Creator: Perissinotto, Renzo
Creator: Richoux, Nicole B
Subject: To be catalogued
Date Issued: 2020
Date: 2020
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454346
Identifier: vital:75337
Identifier: xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68369-5"
Description: By defecating grasses into aquatic systems at massive scales and intensities, hippos can initiate complex changes to aquatic ecosystems. However, consequent effects on food webs are not well understood, particularly regarding shifts in basal resource contributions to consumer diets and their physiological condition. Here, we use fatty acid analysis to show that dense hippo aggregations and high dung loading are associated with (1) alterations to basal resource pools, (2) reduced quality of sediment organic matter and (3) increases in terrestrial and bacterial biomarker levels, but declines in those of diatoms in estuarine secondary consumers. While hippo defecation can increase boundary permeability between terrestrial and aquatic systems, our findings indicate that this may lead to a shift from a microphytobenthic food web base to one with increasing bacterial contributions to higher consumers. Our findings expand understanding of the mechanisms by which an iconic African megaherbivore indirectly structures aquatic ecosystems.
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (15 pages)
Format: pdf
Publisher: Scientific Reports
Language: English
Relation: Scientific Reports
Relation: Dawson, J., Pillay, D., Perissinotto, R. and Richoux, N.B., 2020. Fatty acid analyses provide novel insights on hippo defecation and consequences for aquatic food webs. Scientific Reports, 10(1), p.12039
Relation: Scientific Reports volume 10 number 1 p. 12039 2020 2045-2322
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Scientific Reports Statement (https://www.nature.com/srep/open-access)
Rights: Closed Access

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Richoux, Nicole Bertine (Assoc Prof)

SDG 15. Life On Land

RU Department of Zoology and Entomology

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