Fatty acid composition data for producers and consumers

The nutritional diversity of resources can affect the adaptive evolution of consumer metabolism and consumer diversification. The omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) have a high potential to affect consumer fitness, through their widespread effects on reproduction, growth, and survival. However, few studies consider the evolution of fatty acid metabolism within an ecological context. In the paper associated with this dataset, we document the extensive diversity in both primary producer and consumer fatty acid distributions among major ecosystems, between habitats, and among species within habitats. This dataset on fatty acid composition on primary producers and consumers from marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems is used to create Figure 2 in the paper. The data consists of alpha linolenic acid (ALA; 18:3n-3), EPA, and DHA as percent of total fatty acids.