Modelling the role of highly unsaturated fatty acids in planktonic food web processes: Sensitivity analysis and examination of contemporary hypotheses

Aquatic food web models typically treat the constituent trophic levels as static elements interacting with one another and the environment. Dynamic biological stoichiometry has relaxed this assumption and considers evolutionary responses in said elements. The incorporation of organismal response in food web models holds promise for a more realistic portrayal of ecosystem dynamics. Recent advances in aquatic ecology pinpoint the importance of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) on food web interactions and ecosystem resilience. In this study, we utilized a HUFA explicit submodel in conjunction with a limiting nutrient–phytoplankton–zooplankton–detritus (NPZD) mathematical system to incorporate elements of the physiology of individual animals into the context of plankton dynamics. Our HUFA-augmented plankton model provided a realistic platform to examine functional properties and physiological strategies that modulate resource procurement in different trophic environments and to effectively link variability at the organismal level with ecosystem-scale patterns. First, we were able to illustrate the implications of the filling-cup hypothesis, in which species’ fitness stems from dynamic HUFA turnover rates in response to bottom-up stresses. We then examined an evolutionary hypothesis of consumer fitness dependence on HUFA quota management strategies, whereby adaptive individuals with low HUFA minimum and optimum requirements gain competitive advantage. Several studies have reported higher HUFA concentrations in consumers than producers, and our results suggest that this pattern could be driven by a combination of conservative turnover and elevated bioconversion rates. Oligotrophic settings showed strong reliance upon exogenous phosphorus subsidies and frequently yielded inverted food web biomass distributions. With the prevalence of eutrophic conditions, consumer growth is primarily controlled by HUFA availability, and the associated biochemical limitation can ultimately result in patterns of algal accumulation. Finally, our study discusses directions to improve the representation of the producer–grazer interactions and thus advance our understanding of the factors that determine the flow of nutrients and energy to the higher trophic levels.