Data from: Biosynthesis of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids in a generalist seabird
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid (n3-LCPUFA), is integral to vertebrates’ brains. Mammals require continuous DHA replenishment to maintain cerebral function and structural integrity; evidence points towards birds having similar requirements. Vertebrates maintain their DHA levels by endogenously synthesizing DHA using alpha-linolenic acid (ALA; omega-3 precursor) or by consuming preformed DHA and other n3-LCPUFAs. Given n3-LCPUFAs’ abundance in marine organisms, marine predators are presumed incapable of biosynthesizing n3-LCPUFAs; this assumption remains seldom tested. Alarmingly, many marine predators, including generalist seabirds, now forage on anthropogenic resources deficient in n3-LCPUFAs. Whether they can offset such deficiency by bioconverting ALA into DHA remains unknown. Here, we tested whether ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis), a generalist seabird now thriving in cities, can biosynthesize n3-LCPUFAs, including DHA, from ALA. We brought into captivity 24 hatchlings from two breeding colonies, including 12 from an urban colony and 12 from a natural colony. Nine hatchlings from each colony received an oral 13C-enriched ALA tracer to follow the potential bioconversion of ALA into n3-LCPUFAs, in addition to being fed 490 μL of unlabelled ALA daily for three days. The control groups (N=3 urban hatchlings and 3 natural hatchlings) received a caloric equivalent (free of omega-3s) in place of the ALA tracer and supplement. All chicks received a diet deficient in all omega-3s throughout the 72 hours of captivity. We analyzed their brains’ and livers’ fatty acid content and established their 13C signatures for each omega-3 using compound-specific isotope analysis. We found evidence of incomplete ALA bioconversion where, compared to controls, experimental chicks from both colonies accumulated more of all ALA derivates in their tissues except for DHA. We demonstrate for the first time that a seabird shows some omega-3 bioconversion abilities, albeit at levels insufficient to mitigate DHA deficiencies associated with urban foraging and shifting marine ecosystems.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.015 | 0.004 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".