FATTY ACIDS IN LOTIC PERIPHYTON: ANOTHER MEASURE OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE¹

Abstract

The fatty acid spectra of 6 periphyton communities developed in laboratory streams at different combinations of light intensity and current velocity were determined by gas-liquid chromatography and silver nitrate thin-layer chromatography. Differences in species composition of the communities apparently had no striking effect on proportions of palmitic and stearic acids, whereas concentrations of myristic, palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids and a C20:5 acid were more closely related to taxonomic differences. In general, communities dominated by blue-green algae exhibited relatively high proportions of oleic, linolenic, and linolenic acids and low proportions of palmitoleic acid and a C20:5 acid, as compared to communities consisting primarily of diatoms. The data also indicated an inverse relationship between fatty acid redundancy and species diversity.