help obtaining Australian wild type caridina shrimp for science experiments on diet choice

[Mike Brett]

Dear Australia Shrimp keepers forum:

I am a professor from the University of Washington, in Seattle USA, and I will be on sabbatical leave at Griffith University in Brisbane for six months.  

I do research on the bioaccumulation of omega-3 fatty acids in aquatic food webs.  I am recently a coauthor on several papers that use the fatty acid composition of herbivorous crustaceans to untangle what they have been eating.  

In general, the types of fatty acids one sees in a crustacean are strongly influenced by their diets.  This can be used to back-calculate what wild crustaceans have been eating.  

so far I have done experiments of this sort on freshwater Daphnia and a marine isopod.  I would also like to do such experiments on a freshwater Caridina shrimp, preferably collected from someplace in Queensland, Australia.  

I hoping for some advice on wild type Caridina shrimp, not fancy types.  I am just looking for a strain of shrimp that is easy to grow in aquaria.  I plan to feed this shrimp various types of lab grown algae to see how these would change the fatty acid composition of this shrimp.  

I have no commercial interest in these shrimp.  I am just looking to expand the range of organisms that my fatty acid based diet tracing method can be applied to.  

I have attached a link where one of my papers on this topic can be downloaded for free.  I also provide a list of related papers on this topic.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129723

Strandberg, U., M. Hiltunen, E. Jelkänen, S.J. Taipale, M.J. Kainz, M.T. Brett, and P. Kankaala. 2015. Selective transfer of polyunsaturated fatty acids from phytoplankton to planktivorous fish in large boreal lakes. Science of the Total Environment 536: 858-865.

Galloway, A.W.E., M.T. Brett*, G.W. Holtgrieve, E.J. Ward, A.P. Ballantyne, C.W. Burns, M.J. Kainz, D.C. Müller-Navarra, J. Persson, J.L. Ravet, U. Strandberg, S.J. Taipale, and G. Alhgren. 2015. A Fatty Acid Based Bayesian Approach for Inferring Diet in Aquatic Consumers. PLoS ONE 10: e0129723. 

Galloway, A.W.E, M.E. Eisenlord, M.N. Dethier, G.W. Holtgrieve, M.T. Brett. 2014. Quantitative estimates of resource utilization by an herbivorous isopod using a Bayesian fatty acid mixing model. Marine Ecology Progress Series 507: 219-232.

Galloway, A.W.E., S.J. Taipale, M. Hiltunen, E. Peltomaa, U. Strandberg, M.T. Brett, and P. Kankaala 2014.  Diet specific biomarkers show that high quality phytoplankton fuel herbivorous zooplankton in large boreal lakes. Freshwater Biology 59: 1902–1915.

Taipale, S.J., Strandberg, U., Peltomaa, E., Galloway, A.W., Ojala, A., & Brett, M.T. 2013. Fatty acid composition as biomarkers of freshwater microalgae: analysis of 37 strains of microalgae in 22 genera and in seven classes. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 71: 165-178.

Taipale, S.J., M.J. Kainz, and M.T. Brett.  2011. Diet-switching experiments show rapid accumulation and preferential retention of highly unsaturated fatty acids in Daphnia. Oikos 120: 1674-1682.

Burns, C.W., M.T. Brett, and M. Schallenberg. 2011. A comparison of the trophic transfer of fatty acids in freshwater plankton by cladocerans and calanoid copepods. Freshwater Biology 56: 889-903.

Ravet, J.L., M.T. Brett, and G.B. Arhonditsis. 2010. The effects of seston lipids on zooplankton fatty acid composition in Lake Washington. Ecology 91: 180-190.

Brett, M.T., D.C. Müller-Navarra, A.P. Ballantyne , J.L. Ravet and C.R. Goldman. 2006.  Daphnia fatty acid composition reflects that of their diet. Limnology and Oceanography 51: 2428-2437.

 

 

 

[NoGi]

Great introduction, I believe we have a few people here that may be able to assist you.

@northboy, @fishmosy, @Liverpool Creek

[Mike Brett]

Fantastic, I look forward to hearing back from others.  

I am particularly interested in Cardina shrimp because they are widespread and ecologically important in a large region of the world.  Once I have developed a fatty acid based diet tracing model for this organism, I believe it could be applied to other Caridina shrimp in a wide range of conditions.  

[NoGi]

Give them a couple of days to respond, as some aren't here all the time.

 

@ura is another that I can think of that may be able to help

[Mike Brett]

Actually, Fishmosy has already corresponded extensively with me.  His research interests overlap considerably with mine, and I will likely visit his lab in the not too distant future.

btw, was is the meaning of your Moniker?  NoGi sounds like martial arts.  I have done judo for 20 years and before that I was an amateur wrestler in HS and college, so I went from NoGi to YesGi.   

[NoGi]

Just now, Mike Brett said:

btw, was is the meaning of your Moniker?  NoGi sounds like martial arts.  I have done judo for 20 years and before that I was an amateur wrestler in HS and college, so I went from NoGi to YesGi.   

Great to hear, he has a wealth of knowledge.

No idea on the nickname, it's just something someone called me way back in primary school and it stuck.

[inverted]

Funny little joke there. I see what you did.