Simultaneous estimation of diet composition and calibration coefficients with fatty acid signature data.

ABSTRACT: Knowledge of animal diets provides essential insights into their life history and ecology, although diet estimation is challenging and remains an active area of research. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) has become a popular method of estimating diet composition, especially for marine species. A primary assumption of QFASA is that constants called calibration coefficients, which account for the differential metabolism of individual fatty acids, are known. In practice, however, calibration coefficients are not known, but rather have been estimated in feeding trials with captive animals of a limited number of model species. The impossibility of verifying the accuracy of feeding trial derived calibration coefficients to estimate the diets of wild animals is a foundational pr

SUBMITTER: Bromaghin JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5574754 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature