Fatty acid profiles of more than 470 marine species from the Southern Hemisphere.

Lipid and fatty acid datasets are commonly used to assess the nutritional composition of organisms, trophic ecology, and ecosystem dynamics. Lipids and their fatty acid constituents are essential nutrients to all forms of life because they contribute to biological processes such as energy flow and metabolism. Assessment of total lipids in tissues of organisms provides information on energy allocation and life-history strategies and can be an indicator of nutritional condition.

Antarctic Krill Lipid and Fatty acid Content Variability is Associated to Satellite Derived Chlorophyll a and Sea Surface Temperatures.

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a key component of the Antarctic food web with considerable lipid reserves that are vital for their health and higher predator survival. Krill lipids are primarily derived from their diet of plankton, in particular diatoms and flagellates. Few attempts have been made to link the spatial and temporal variations in krill lipids to those in their food supply.

Near-future ocean acidification does not alter the lipid content and fatty acid composition of adult Antarctic krill.

Euphausia superba (Antarctic krill) is a keystone species in the Southern Ocean, but little is known about how it will respond to climate change. Ocean acidification, caused by sequestration of carbon dioxide into ocean surface waters (pCO), alters the lipid biochemistry of some organisms. This can have cascading effects up the food chain.