Foraging at wastewater treatment works affects brown adipose tissue fatty acid profiles in banana bats
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Date
2016Author
Hill, Kate
Van Aswegen, Sunet
Claassens, Sarina
Jansen van Rensburg, Peet
Schoeman, M. Corrie
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In this study we tested the hypothesis that the decrease in habitat
quality at wastewater treatment works (WWTW), such as limited prey
diversity and exposure to the toxic cocktail of pollutants, affect fatty
acid profiles of interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBrAT) in bats.
Further, the antioxidant capacity of oxidative tissues such as pectoral
and cardiac muscle may not be adequate to protect those tissues
against reactive molecules resulting from polyunsaturated fatty acid
auto-oxidation in the WWTW bats. Bats were sampled at two urban
WWTW, and two unpolluted reference sites in KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa. Brown adipose tissue (BrAT) mass was lower in WWTW bats
than in reference site bats. We found lower levels of saturated
phospholipid fatty acids and higher levels of mono- and
polyunsaturated fatty acids in WWTW bats than in reference site
bats, while C18 desaturation and n-6 to n-3 ratios were higher in the
WWTW bats. This was not associated with high lipid peroxidation
levels in pectoral and cardiac muscle. Combined, these results
indicate that WWTW bats rely on iBrAT as an energy source, and
opportunistic foraging on abundant, pollutant-tolerant prey may
change fatty acid profiles in their tissue, with possible effects on
mitochondrial functioning, torpor and energy usage.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/18920http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.013524
http://bio.biologists.org/content/5/2/92