Physiology Responses to Diet
Dietary fatty acids may be crucial to our understanding of the endogenous mechanisms that effect the physiology and survival of hibernating species. A better understanding of how bats utilize fatty acids may improve our ability to estimate the outlook of white-nose syndrome effected bats in North America.
I measured metabolism, complete blood count and fatty acid ratios of white-adipose tissue and of their wing membranes in response to either a high (22:1) or low (10:1 to 3.5:1) ratio of of dietary N6:N3 PUFAs.
Overall, metabolism was the only detected significant response to dietary PUFAs such that minimum torpor metabolic rate significantly decreased with a lower N6:N3 PUFA ratio. More studies, similar to this one but over many years, need to be conducted with WNS-affected bat species. |