Fatty acid profiles of great tit (Parus major) eggs differ between urban and rural habitats, but not between coniferous and deciduous forests.
Early-life nutrition is an important determinant of both short- and long-term performance and fitness. The avian embryo develops within an enclosed package of nutrients, of which fatty acids (FA) are essential for many aspects of development. The FA composition of yolk depends on maternal nutrition and condition prior to egg formation, which may be affected by the external environment. To test if maternal environment affects yolk FA composition, we investigated whether the FA composition of great tit (Parus major) egg yolks differed between urban and rural habitats, and between deciduous and coniferous habitats. The results reveal differences in FA composition between eggs laid in urban and rural habitats, but not between eggs from the coniferous and deciduous habitats. To a large extent, this difference likely reflects dietary differences associated with urban habitats rather than dominating vegetation type. Specifically, urban yolks contained lower proportions of both ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated FAs (PUFA), which are important for chick development. We also found a positive association between the proportion of saturated fatty acids and laying date, and a negative association between the proportion of ω-6 PUFA and clutch size. Given that urbanization is expanding rapidly, future studies should investigate whether factors such as anthropogenic food in the urban environment underlie these differences and whether they impair chick development.
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.|Department of Life Science, University of Roehampton, London, UK.
Alejandra
A
Toledo
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Martin N
MN
Andersson
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Hong-Lei
HL
Wang
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Pablo
P
Salmón
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Hannah
H
Watson
Academic Unit of Human Development and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Graham C
GC
Burdge
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Caroline.Isaksson@biol.lu.se.
Caroline
C
Isaksson
D000818:Animals; D032462:Cycadopsida; D004032:Diet; D017753:Ecosystem; D004530:Egg Yolk / Q000737:chemistry*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D065928:Forests; D019684:Magnoliopsida; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000502:physiology*; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population
D005227:Fatty Acids
Anthropogenic; Development; Incubation; Maternal effects; Nutrition; Polyunsaturated fatty acids