Abstract
Some top predators in the Baltic Sea such as sea birds and fish suffer from low levels of pigments and vitamins causing deficiency syndromes. The question is how these deficiencies arise. Pigments and vitamins in aquatic systems are transformed and transferred by zooplankton (mm-size) to higher trophic levels, but we know very little about the factors regulating this process. This project covers both field investigations of spatial variations in pigments and vitamins, as well as laboratory experiments addressing mechanistic connections and interactions. I will: 1) Incorporate the production and transfer of pigments and vitamins into nutritional food web ecology. 2) Understand the underlying trade-offs and factors involved in regulating transfer of pigments and vitamins from phytoplankton via zooplankton to fish. 3) Prime zooplankton for the production of nutritious aquaculture fish. 4) Predict changes in nutrition in the aquatic food web due to environmental threats such climate change. This is an overlooked research area and apart from interesting evolutionary questions I will be able to understand which factors that affect the transfer of important biomolecules and hence the underlying mechanisms creating deficiency syndromes in top predators.
Sweden