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Sperfeld & Wacker – Hydrobiologia
Appendix B: Additional information for Offspring diet treatments experiment.
Fig. B1 Juvenile mass-specific growth rates (d-1) of D. magna offspring raised on pure Synechococcus
elongatus (SYN). Mothers have been raised on Scenedesmus obliquus (SCE), Nannochloropsis
limnetica (NAN), and a food mixture containing 95% SYN, 2.5% SCE, and 2.5% NAN supplemented
with cholesterol (MF+Ch). Mean ± SD are presented for n = 3 (except for NAN, n = 2). There are no
significant differences among maternal diet treatments (one-way ANOVA: F2,5 = 0.89, p = 0.47).
Replicates started with 14-15 juveniles in 500 mL food suspension and were conducted only until day
4 as animals already showed first signs of mortality on this poor food; dry mass was determined at the
beginning and day 4 for calculation of mass-specific growth rates.
Sperfeld & Wacker – Hydrobiologia
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Table B1 Fatty acid concentrations (µg mg C-1) of phytoplankton (Food) and Daphnia magna
offspring (Neos). Phytoplankton used as food in experiments: Synechococcus elongatus (SYN),
Scenedesmus obliquus (SCE), Nannochloropsis limnetica (NAN), and a food mixture containing 95%
SYN, 2.5% SCE, and 2.5% NAN supplemented with cholesterol (MF+Ch).
SYN
MF+Ch
SCE
NAN
Food
Food
Neos
Food
Neos
Food
Neos
 SFA
42.0
(2.6)
41.3
(2.5)
39.2
(4.1)
24.8
(2.3)
35.6
(4.6)
38.0
(3.1)
48.1
(6.9)
 MUFA
50.9
(1.9)
49.7
(1.8)
76.2
(3.0)
17.3
(2.3)
26.5
(3.8)
42.5
(2.7)
58.6
(7.7)
ALA
(18:33)
n.d.
1.6
(0.3)
7.1
(1.5)
48.3
(3.4)
72.4
(5.2)
2.5
(0.4)
5.6
(0.1)
SDA
(18:43)
n.d.
0.16
(0.02)
1.3
(0.4)
5.0
(0.3)
6.1
(0.5)
n.d.
0.87
(0.15)
EPA
(20:53)
n.d.
1.4
(0.4)
5.0
(0.5)
n.d.
n.d.
70.4
(5.8)
92.3
(12.5)
LIN
(18:26)
n.d.
0.43
(0.06)
2.9
(0.8)
10.7
(0.4)
15.4
(1.0)
5.0
(0.7)
8.0
(0.6)
ARA
(20:46)
n.d.
0.18
(0.05)
1.7
(0.3)
n.d.
n.d.
9.0
(0.9)
11.6
(1.4)
 3 PUFA
n.d.
3.1
(0.5)
13.3
(2.4)
53.3
(3.7)
78.5
(5.7)
73.0
(6.1)
98.8
(12.4)
 6 PUFA
n.d.
0.72
(0.11)
5.7
(2.2)
12.7
(0.4)
19.5
(1.6)
16.1
(1.5)
23.5
(2.0)
TFA
98.8
(4.8)
101.6
(4.9)
138.9
(12.6)
141.3
(10.2)
197.1
(18.2)
175.4
(8.8)
237.0
(29.7)
3/6 ratio
-
4.3
(0.2)
2.6
(0.6)
4.2
(0.3)
4.0
(0.04)
4.5
(0.3)
4.2
(0.2)
Footnotes Table B1: Data of Food are means (± SD) of five subsamples taken at different days of the
maternal and offspring diet treatments. Data of Neos are means of duplicate measurements (±
min./max.); n.d., not detected. SFA represent the sum of all saturated fatty acids ≥ 14 carbon atoms;
MUFA represent the sum of all monounsaturated fatty acids ≥ 16 carbon atoms; PUFA represent the
sum of all polyunsaturated fatty acids with at least two double bonds and ≥ 18 carbon atoms: αlinolenic acid (ALA), stearidonic acid (SDA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), linoleic acid (LIN),
arachidonic acid (ARA); TFA (total fatty acids) represent the sum of all fatty acids.
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Sperfeld & Wacker – Hydrobiologia
Fatty acid concentrations of the Food MF+Ch were calculated from monoculture measurements at the
same sampling date. Offspring were freshly hatched neonates from the third clutch of D. magna
females pre-cultured upon SCE, NAN, and MF+Ch. The measured fatty acid amounts of each sample
were normalized to independently determined POC amounts of phytoplankton and to the carbon
content of D. magna’s offspring using a previously determined carbon to dry mass conversion factor
of 0.43 µg carbon per µg dry mass (n=147). Preliminary measurements have shown no difference in
carbon content of D. magna grown on diets that differed substantially in PUFA composition and
variation around the mean of the conversion factor was rather small (coefficient of variation ±3.6%).