The quality of food has large effects on animals’ ability to cope with different environmental challenges, such as temperature. In particular, the composition of fatty acids in the food can affect many physiological parameters, including energy metabolism. In this project, you will therefore explore how fatty acid enrichment (i.e., food supplementation with coconut oil or olive oil, and positive and negative controls) in the diet affects the ability of birds to produce energy and heat to deal with cold temperatures, using Japanese quail as a model species.
You will follow how a diet switch impacts the concentration of circulating fatty acids in blood plasma, before and over the course of the diet manipulation experiment, using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS). These results will then be related to the data on cellular- and whole-animal metabolic rate, to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying observed changes in birds following diet manipulation.
This project would place you right in the centre of the research made in our team, with great potential to learn more about how diet composition affects bird physiology.
Project duration: 15 to 45 ECTS
Level: Internship, BSc, or MSc
Contact persons:
Dr. Elisa Thoral, Ecology building 3rd floor B362, elisa.thoral@biol.lu.se
Dr. Andreas Nord, Ecology building 2nd floor B250, andreas.nord@biol.lu.seÂ