A workshop entitled “Gas chromatography of fatty acids of different tissues and possible applications in wildlife research” was held at the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków on March 21st this year. Dr. Lana Pađen, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb (Croatia), who came for her study visit at the Institute, delivered a theoretical training to the participants. Dr. Ghulam Nabi, the leader of the AnthroBear project, had the opportunity to learn about the various aspects of gas chromatography technique and the possible applications of fatty acids in wildlife research. This is a very exciting venue to explore in ecophysiological studies.
Fatty acids (FA) are a class of lipids that act in essential physiological functions in organisms and are transferred via trophic interactions in food webs. Because consumers cannot synthesize many of the essential ones, they must acquire them through their diets. Thus, we can study what was eaten by given consumer by dietary fatty acid profiles in its tissues. Specific fatty acids or groups of fatty acids are indicative of consumption of certain foods and may also be reflective of the foraging habitats used by consumers. It happens more and more that brown bears are using unsecured anthropogenic food sources, and this is recognizable by specific FA in their tissues.
The results of the research on that by dr. Pađen and collaborators, based on samples collected from Dinaric and Carpathian brown bear populations, are coming soon. Anthropogenic effects on these brown bear populations are also a focus of AnthroBear Project and a major part of dr. Nabi current research.