Mil De Silva

University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials] Page 1 of 12 Course Code – Section # | Course Name – Today’s Date Week # | Lecture Title [Lecture Title] [Preamble] Wetland Definitions US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Definition  Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances RAMSAR Convention (Definition)  Manages wetland health globally  Protects and manages wetlands and comes up with strategies to mitigate harm to them  Wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, weather (They also recognize salt water marshes as wetlands)  Above 6m is a lake and no longer a wetland Wetlands Characteristics  Wetlands have high biodiversity and sustain more life than any other ecosystem  They have really high rates of carbon fixation (comparable to the Amazon rainforest)  They occupy 6% of the earth’s land and freshwater surface and play a major role in maintaining the stability of the global environment  Canada has a disproportionately large part of earth’s wetlands (14%)  Today wetlands are under great stress [IMAGE]  Farmers drain wetlands for their livestock and crops and that affects local and global wetlands [ Ducks Unlimited magazine IMAGE]  Articles are very commonly seen about the continued loss of wetlands Canadian Wetlands  Ontario, Manitoba and the North-West Territories contain the largest area of wetlands in Canada University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials]      Page 2 of 12 Canada itself has 14% of wetlands globally Agricultural expansion is the major cause of Canada’s wetland losses (85%) Since European settlement, wetland conversion has increased Wetlands are key to vertebrate brain development (more on this below) 80% of wetlands are lost in urban areas Ecosystem Services of Wetlands  Wetlands are natural filters that improve water quality (high microbial activity, when contaminants and excess N and P nutrients flow in; a lot less flow out) o Nitrogen and phosphorus that enters system isn’t taken up from mountain water all the way to coastal waters, they are no neutral dead zones without wetlands  They recharge our groundwater- surrounding landscapes get more water in addition to the farmland waters  If you remove and store greenhouse gases, there’s a high rate of carbon fixation, comparable to the tropics.  Wetlands are also used for recreation such as swimming, boating, fishing and hunting  Wetlands are also used for navigation What else might wetlands offer? Fatty Acids (assignment 2 gives that background into this lecture) Naming Conventions  The 1st number is the number of carbons o If its 3 carbons from the methyl end of the molecule its omega-3 o If its 6 carbons from the methyl end of the molecule its omega-6  The 2nd number is the number of double bonds There’s a biosynthetic chain that links them  They are precursors for each other  For mammals, the rates of conversion are very low- if you eat walnuts you get very low levels of conversion ALA of LA (you need to eat a lot of walnuts, but if you eat fish with everything in it you don’t need to eat walnuts) Rate of conversion is 5% [From ALA of LA to EPADHA]  EPA- good for the nervous system  DHA- good for sperm, milk, etc. University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials] Page 3 of 12 o Both are good for the brain and intelligence Is there interest in this worldwide? [From Google Scholar] Freshwater & Marine Ecosystems Publishing  There are 25,000 papers citing fatty acids published each year Our brain and fatty acids  Our brain is a very oily and fatty organ  Its 60% lipid of dry weight basis  The connections in our brain are important. The axons and dendrites help us make and form thoughts. They are very dynamic and constantly broken and formed.  Connections in the brain are primarily composed of phospholipids  Fatty acids are largely polyunsaturated fatty acids, e.g. omega-3.  Of the phospholipids, 75% percent of those phospholipids are ARA and DHA o ARA is very easy to find o DHA- very limited and its harder and harder to access it for healthy brain growth  DHA is required for the behaviour of cell-signalling systems which determine how neurons function (aka the ability to think, to remember, to navigate- to have a spatial navigation) o Intelligence- is underpinned by connectivity- a lot of connections means the person comes up with new things all the time. This is compared to the average person. They are made of phospholipids which are 75% ARA and DHA Working definition of intelligence (skilled action)  The ability to have a wide range of skillsets e.g. good at sports, great mechanical aptitude, good at a math (skillsets- the more you have, the more its correlated with intelligence)  The richer, the denser the connections, the greater the probability you can exercise those skillsets. The plumbing in your brain has to be in place for intelligence to work. Where does intelligence come from?  Oil-rich plants- humans are good at mining them o Canola oil (developed in the Canadian prairies)  These are rich in omega-3, but doesn’t have EPA and DHA o Similarly, palm oil (from the tropics) also has omega-3, but no EPA or DHA o In the Mediterranean you get olive oil and in the Midwest US you get peanuts  We harvest oil from completely different families of plants  If you break it down on a family level, what you see is: University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials]   Page 4 of 12 o ALA- some families like flax and walnut have ALA (its more common to have linoleic acid)  EPA and DHA- in all these families you just don’t find it (Table expressed on individual species level) take home message o It doesn’t matter if it’s the tropics, temperate regions or polar regions. Even though we are good at identifying oil-rich species, not one of them has EPA and DHA. So if you want to build your brain, land-plants generally don’t have this (aqua plants on the other hand do have EPA and DHA) (Table 3) terrestrial crop plants & terrestrial animals hardly have any DHA and EPA, whereas aquatic plants and especially aquatic animals have a lot of EPA and DHA. What about wetlands?  Different algae are common in wetlands- green algae, flagellated algae o They consistently have high levels of EPA and DHA and that’s really the wellspring of EPA-DHA; the source of these 2 brain-nourishing fatty acids. [IMAGE]  Fluorescent tags are placed on Nile Reds, which bind to lipids like triglycerides produced by algae (they fluoresce on each end). This is the body size of the diatom. Those triglycerides have 3 fatty acids each full of EPA and DHA. This is a good visual of how fatty and oily they are. Think about zooplankton eating this and getting this, and then fish eat them and how we eat the fish and thus, we get it the EPA and DHA. [1982 IMAGE]  A copepod eating diatoms and thus passing up key fatty acids up the tropic chain Mean EPA + DHA for different zooplankton- 11.4 (10ish)  So there’s consistency of concentration  Zoobenthos- 9.8 average (10ish) Aquatic vs. terrestrial insects  Omega-3/omega-6  Terrestrial systems have more omega-6  Aquatic systems have more omega-3  Discrepancy in plants is seen in things that eat the plants  Fish average 8.2 (10ish) Statistical analysis- difference between marine systems  There is a big difference and they separate out- EPA and DHA is associated with the water world and not the land world. Key Pathways in the transfer of EPA+DHA from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials] Page 5 of 12 So how does this stuff get to us? By fishing. What other vectors?         Birds feeding on insects, amphibians Insects- mosquitos, black flys, stone flys- all have aquatic juvenile stage. They eat everything in the water, then form wings and fly away (so they harvest that and are a great vector for us. If you take away wetlands, you take away that. Frogs/tadpoles- some toads leave the pond onto land Fish eating birds- bald eagles, ospreys Raccoons- eat mussels, clams and crayfish- so they harvest EPA and DHA Bears and other carnivores (e.g. wolves, coyotes) that opportunistically eat fish (e.g. salmon) Aquatic biomass (algae, aquatic plants, invertebrates) washed up on shorelines and eaten by a variety to terrestrial mammals Humans and their global influence on fisheries Measuring EPA-DHA vectors?  Setting up aquatic traps (a 1m*1m trap)  All insects are captured in a bottle for 1 or 2 days, then they record insect numbers and come up with rate  Calculating the flux o How much EPA and DHA are coming out of wetlands? o How is warming up the water affecting that (climate change)? [IMAGE]  Mississippi river mayflies on the Lacrosse, Mississippi river crossing  All these mayflies are harvesting EPA and DHA.  They had a huge bloom and they were covering up gas stations and bridges. They are so slimy that they had to close bridge because it was so oily  Every spring, a huge amount of lipids come out, which is a wealth of EPA-DHA and that is a great thing. [IMAGE]  A warm June night captured by radar showing a 10km radius outside Lacrosse, Mississippi  Mayflies populations were so dense that they were picked up on the radar  The image shows counties measured 20miles*20miles (happening down the breadth and length of Mississippi wetlands along with other north American water bodies, which nourish the land)  Both small and large organisms harvest these lipids University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials] Page 6 of 12 Large lakes= low connectivity  Aren’t the great lakes more important? o No, it’s about connectivity. Lake Superior has a huge amount of depth, but a limited shoreline so there’s less connectivity. The EPA and DHA are at the very bottom of the deep lake. o On the other hand, wetlands are not deep but have lots of shoreline, so there’s lots more connectivity and flux compared to a great lake. Wetlands= high connectivity  They occupy 6% of the earth’s land and freshwater surface  Canada has 14% of the planet’s wetlands (disproportionately high)  The extent of the natural lakes is twice as large. o There twice as many water bodies than we imagined, and they are dominated by the little water bodies (like wetlands). o The little ones are the ones that matter e.g. small wetlands- in terms of being movers and shapers, they are the small wetlands. Human EPA+DHA daily intake  Different groups of people all recommend we get EPA-DHA in our diet (depends on the age of the human)  The average adult intake in North America is below these recommendations. Thus, most people don’t get adequate levels of EPA-DHA Omega-3 summit meeting consensus document (Belgium, March 2011)  Experts come together every year to make policy statements  A lot of heart attacks and strokes are manageable if we have enough EPA-DHA o At least 1000mg per day of EPA-DHA should be taken in, however, on average only 100mg per day of EPA-DHA is taken in.  You get more DHA when eating EPA (compared to the DHA you get from eating ALA)  There’s very high specificity in matching when it comes to DHA and your brain Morris Water Maze Test  You have a big pail and you fill it up with water, and you use chalk or black ink in it (harmless) o The idea is that the test subject (a rat) can’t see down into the opaque water.  Then you put a platform just below the water surface so subject can’t see it and you put some cues around (e.g. a triangle is placed above the hidden platform to associate the hidden platform with a triangle. And thus, the subject can be conditioned to the triangle.) o Sometimes by change alone the mouse finds the platform, but the platform is associated with the triangle (when you put it back in, it formed a visual association- it has spatial learning) o Then you can assess the latency period of how long it takes for the rat to do this University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials] Page 7 of 12 o You can do this with cameras o You can do it with colour, with sound- its very flexible Fatty acids- what can we learn about behaviour competencies? How important is DHA for spatial learning? It’s very important. [Experiment] Analogue substitute for DHA test  The experiment took something very close in structure to DHA (22:5n-6) to see whether it could substitute DHA, but still have the same effect on the brain of the subject.  Unfortunately, the substitute did not help the rats with their spatial learning at all. o The rats had a problem with spatial recognition. So that compound could not substitute. o Thus, DHA has a highly specific function in the brain (high specificity). (Another Paper- 2009)  In this study, they increased DHA in the brain.  The result was a proliferation in the neurons of the hippocampus of the brain. o The hippocampus is associated with long-term memory and has navigation involvement- e.g. For a hockey player or basketball player, its very important.  Wayne Gretzky- people use to say, He just seems to know where the puck is - perhaps this is an ode to great spatial navigation. *[Advice for titling your first scientific paper]  Think about the title of the paper- its the hook that draws people to your paper  If the title is good, I actually stop and read the abstract at least  The title should give you your main conclusion  Examples of some great titles: o n-3 fatty acid deficiency impairs rat spatial learning o Fish oil supplementation of control and (n-3) fatty acid-deficient male rates enhances reference and working memory performance and increases brain regional DHA levels [On DHA deprivation]  If you deprive a mouse of adequate DHA, and dissect its brain and look at the connectivity you actually see less connections in that brain. [DHA-EPA in humans]  Look at the diets- sufficient vs. deficient diets in EPA-DHA o There’s a 14% difference in their brains just by comparing their 2 diets University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials] Page 8 of 12 o This is a contrast between humans that have regular fish consumption vs. humans that don’t have regular fish consumption Highly speculative data areas of omega-3 fatty acids  The association between omega-3 fatty acids and cancer (it’s a grey area and its completely open to new research) ADVERTISING & EPA-DHA [IMAGE 1]  Canadian Company- Webber advertises EPA-DHA 900mg very clearly NOTE: First advertising focused only on the heart, then on the heart first and the brain second, and now its the brain first and the heart second. These changes follow the new findings in studies about DHA’s effects on the heart and brain very closely as they are published. [IMAGE 2]  Omega 3 for kids Protect your child’s brain and heart  But beware, there’s lots of farfetched claims  Fish oils are good for your brain as well [IMAGE 3]  A cheese advertisement with Omega-3 NOTE: Cholesterol is a life-giving molecule and you wouldn’t live 5 days without cholesterol. It’s a good molecule that just has a bad rap. [IMAGE 4]  Dog Food- DHA-enriched  How trainable is a dog on a DHA vs. non-DHA diet? [IMAGE 5]  Canadian company called Brunswick that cans sardines  Once the EPA and DHA research came out, they didn’t want to remanufacture their sardine cans, so instead they added a plastic cover packaging on top of the sardine can highlighting the benefits of DHA-EPA in the sardines  The biology: sardines eat copopods and copopods eat diatoms, etc. etc. [IMAGE 6]  Eggs are a good source of omega-3 because chickens have a 15% conversion efficiency of omega-3 into DHA-EPA (whereas we only have a 5% conversion efficiency). University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials] Page 9 of 12 o [On omega-3 egg-producing chickens] So if you give flax seeds to chickens it gives us a EPA-DHA boost down the line, but its no where near eating a slab of salmon [IMAGES 7]  Milk, yogurt and ice cream  Cookies  Breakfast cereal o This cereal advertises that it has omega-3 (which is good, we need more) and omega-6 (which we don’t need, we have too much of it)  We already have 4-5 times the Omega-6 fatty acids we need in our diets. So we have more than we need and this would be overdoing it. [IMAGE 8] A public service poster by the Quebec government  Its looking at the contaminant levels in the Quebec river  It gives a mixed message of balancing costs and benefits. o Yes there are contaminants in the river, but don’t stop eating fish. [IMAGE 9] Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish  This guide comes out every year, and the Ontario government looks at thousands of water bodies and contaminants the fish have in those water bodies  They tell you how many contaminants are in each lake and how many fish you can eat per month from each water body  In the year 2009-10 guide we had a sentence included for a balanced perspective: o Fish also contain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids essential for optimal brain development. Threats to local and global long-chain PUFA production in wetlands [*PUFA= Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids]  Eutrophication  Climate change  Exotic species [IMAGE 10]  Risk of cyanobacterial (blue-green algae) dominance  Cyanobacteria are not a good source EPA-DHA, they are good for omega-6 fatty acids Temperature and Fatty Acids Graph of Environment Canada temperature changes University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials]   Page 10 of 12 The redder it is the hotter it gets Various models predict that by the Year 2100, the surface area temperature of Canada, especially in the North will go up 4 degrees due to CO2 levels rising aka climate change (e.g. temperatures would go up from 24 to 28 degrees Celsius) Comparisons between different historic periods  The spike in CO2 levels at time of the dinosaurs is comparable to the spike in CO2 levels today o So we are getting close to those changes from the time of dinosaurs, which is not common for the millions of years between us (all the periods of time separating the dinosaurs and humans) [IMAGE 11]  Membrane fluidity- composition of fatty acids in that membrane determines its flexibility [IMAGE 12] Homeoviscous adaption  When you warm up tissues, there’s more energy o The cell tries to compensate for that- it takes away polyunsaturated fatty acids and substitutes them o The cells try to increase rigidity when they get warmer because they don’t want to dissociate [IMAGE 13] A phospholipid  The gold coloured molecule represents DHA (6 double bonds) o This can kink or bend wherever there’s a double bond. So the more DHA you have, the more fluid your molecule is o It can also bend over on itself vs. the other molecule that doesn’t’ bend and is very rigid  This is the basis of homeoviscous adaptation [Temperature Study]  If we cool down the water, we get higher levels of EPA-DHA  So as the temperature increases (25 to 27 to 33 degrees Celsius), as temperature goes up, levels of EPA-DHA goes up Green algae- would it adjust with homeoviscous adaptation?  Yes, it has a biochemical trophic cascade. [Data Synthesis study]  952 fatty acid profiles were collected  They plotted fatty acid profiles vs. temperature University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials]  Page 11 of 12 What they found was that EPA-DHA levels went down as a function of temperature, but fatty acids went up [Other studies] Crytophytes & Dinophytes  These organisms are also consistent with homeviscous adaptation Segmented Analysis  There’s a break point at 20 degrees where things get worse Diatoms  Dominate the ocean  50% of the phytoplankton biomass are diatoms  The Laptev sea is 72% diatoms Estimating the supply of EPA  240 Mt year of EPA is produced by diatoms globally per year (14.2 Mt would be lost) Wild fish stocks are in decline- Aquaculture is on the rise  2014- protein consumption from salmon was higher than beef (2014 was the year it switched over)  Those fish need EPA-DHA. We harvest that EPA-DHA by grinding up smaller fish that have that in their bodies into pellets and feed those pellets to the fish, which we eat in turn (stocks of fish go down, and price goes higher) Canola oil- genetically engineered  Camelina sativa was harvested since the time of the Romans  This product was on the TV series Dragon’s Den o The company was created by 2 sisters, who I currently work with on this product Problems and controversy with genetically engineered organisms  There’s concern especially in Europe (they say its going to damage other crops and reduce the viability of existing crops)  There is also great concern about bees in general EPA-DHA in the Water World  Once you give EPA and DHA it enhances the growth rate and reproduction of aquatic invertebrates  What about terrestrial vertebrates? Will the pests grow bigger? Pests  Get on crops and eat leaves  We evaluated risks and benefits to these crops University Name – Winter 2018 [Student Initials] Page 12 of 12 Biosecurity Concerns  When we start reproducing genetically engineered crops, that can hybridize with existing species.  This is being done without any testing, so you should check the surrounding environment you are working with first, before you alter the chemistry of planet earth. [Evidence of Homeoviscous Adaptation and beyond]  When the world was really hot, there was homeoviscous adaptation.  [IMAGE] Resident cast of penguin (cold environment) vs. dinousaur (hot environment) o Despite the large differences in their body sizes, their brain sizes are roughly the same [Concluding Question] So in the Year 2100 when it gets really hot, how does that affect our brain size? 