Biological diversity of the Yala Swamp lakes, with special emphasis on fish species composition, in relation to changes in the Lake Victoria Basin (Kenya): threats and conservation measures

During the second half of the last century, the Lake Victoria ecosystem has undergone drastic ecological changes. Most notable has been the decline in the populations of many endemic cichlid fishes. The lake has lost nearly 200 haplochromines and one tilapiine, Oreochromis esculentus. The above changes have been attributed to effects of species stocking and, in particular, from predation pressure by the introduced Nile perch, Lates niloticus. Other factors that have led to the decline of the endemic species include intensive non-selective fishing, extreme changes in the drainage basin, increased eutrophication, and the invasion of the lake by the water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes. However, the remnants of some species that had disappeared from Lake Victoria occur abundantly in the Yala Swamp lakes (Kanyaboli, Sare and Namboyo). This paper discusses the biodiversity of the swamp and the three lakes and gives suggestions for their conservation.     

不同营养水平对外来物种凤眼莲生长特征及其竞争力的影响

入侵种凤眼莲(Eichhorniacrassipes)在中国的泛滥不仅与其强大的适应力和繁殖能力有关,还与水体的富营养化有很大的关系。作者通过盆栽实验比较了三个营养水平的模拟富营养条件下凤眼莲的生长特征和对当地种黄花水龙(Ludwigiapeploidesssp.stipulacea)和黑藻(Hydrillaverticillata)两个不同生长型的影响。结果表明:富营养条件增强了凤眼莲的生长繁殖能力,使其平均每母株克隆分株数、平均株高以及总生物量极大的增加。凤眼莲的生长优势导致了其竞争优势,对黄花水龙和黑藻都发生了明显的竞争效应。迅速繁殖的凤眼莲覆盖大量水面,通过排挤作用抑制了黄花水龙的生长(低营养水平除外);黑藻因光照缺乏,导致正常光合作用受阻,生物量急剧下降。凤眼莲对黑藻的竞争效应较黄花水龙更强。富营养化的水体为凤眼莲的成功入侵提供了优越条件,因此解决当前水体的富营养化状况能有效控制凤眼莲入侵,同时也有利于本地生物多样性的保护。     

An Analysis of Fish Species Richness in Natural Lakes

There is a growing recognition of the need to conserve biodiversity that has been conceptualised in the Convention of Biological Diversity. Maintenance of fish species richness is particularly important, because habitat degradation in inland waters continues to accelerate on a global scale. Here we develop empirical models for predicting fish species richness in natural lakes in various geographical regions of the world. In tropical lakes where fish biodiversity is richer than in temperate lakes, fish species richness can be predicted by a few variables such as lake area and altitude. Low fish species richness in most temperate lakes might be due to the effect of glaciation on colonisation and speciation of fishes. In US, Canadian and northern European lakes, lake acidification is one of the important factors influencing fish species richness. Although limnological characteristics influence fish species richness in temperate lakes, lake area and altitude have greater predictive power. This is in contrast to fish species richness in rivers, which can be reliably predicted by basin area. In the power curves, which describe the relationship between fish species richness and habitat size in lakes and rivers, the exponent is always greater in tropical regions than in temperate regions. Because fish biodiversity is greater in the tropics threats to fish biodiversity through habitat degradation are greater than those in temperate inland waters.     

Applicability of planktonic biomanipulation for managing eutrophication in the subtropics

Although large-bodied cladocerans such asDaphnia can reduce algal biomass significantly in temperate lakes if freed from fish predation, the applicability of such biomanipulation techniques for eutrophication management in the subtropics and tropics has been examined only recently. Subtropical cladoceran assemblages differ from those of temperate lakes by their low species richness, early summer gameogenesis, and greatly reduced body size. Eutrophic Florida lakes are dominated by pump-filter feeding fish rather than by size selective planktivores as a temperate lakes. Cladocerans in Florida lakes can increase in abundance significantly if freed from fish but fail to have an impact on algal biomass or composition. The greatest potential for using biomanipulation to manage phytoplankton-dominated lakes in the subtropics and tropics lies with phytophagous fish. Future research should concentrate on defining the role of individual fish taxa on phytoplankton composition and community structure, nutrient cycling, and planktonic productivity before embarking on whole lake manipulation projects.     

Shifts in macrophyte species composition as a result of eutrophication and pollution in Dutch transboundary streams over the past decades

The catchment areas of transboundary streams in the Netherlands have been subject to increasing agricultural and industrial activities over the past decades. To evaluate the effects of these activities on the aquatic vegetation, a study has been carried out in 28 Dutch transboundary lowland streams. Recent data on distribution of 58 aquatic plant species and their growth forms were compared with historical data and were correlated with abiotic variables. Most of these streams lost species that are characteristic for streams and are sensitive to turbidity, eutrophication and pollution (e.g. Potamogeton alpinus, P. polygonifolius, P. densus, Ranunculus peltatus ssp. heterophyllus, Callitriche stagnalis and Myriophyllum alterniflorum.) Species, not common in streams but tolerant to turbidity, eutrophication or pollution (e.g. Potamogeton trichoides, Elodea nuttallii) appeared in many streams or increased in abundance. There was also a shift in growth forms: submerged species decreased or were replaced by emergent/floating-leaved species. Correspondence analysis was carried out to study the relation between the observed changes and the abiotic characteristic of the streams. The magnitude of the shift in species composition was positively correlated with the PO₄ ^3- concentration and pH (which was highly correlated with Cd²⁺) of the water. This leads to the hypothesis that increased input of sewage, agricultural and industrial water causes a change in species composition and main growth forms of aquatic plant species in lowland streams.     

Differences in food webs and trophic states of Brazilian tropical humid and semi-arid shallow lakes: implications of climate change

Global warming may intensify eutrophication of shallow lakes by affecting nutrient loading, evaporation rates, and water level and thus produce major changes in food webs. We investigated to what degree food webs in tropical humid lakes differed from those in more eutrophic semi-arid lakes of the same latitude. Our results indicate that the catchment area-to-lake area ratio, nutrients, chlorophyll a, suspended solids, abundances of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and omnivorous fish as well as total fish catch per unit effort were all higher in the semi-arid lakes, whereas inlet water-to-evaporation ratio (proxy for water balance), water transparency, percentage macrophytes cover, and the piscivores:omnivores ratio were higher in the humid lakes. Our results suggest that reduced inlet water-to-evaporation ratio will increase lake eutrophication, which, in turn, as in temperate regions, will alter trophic structure of the freshwater community.

     

入侵植物凤眼莲研究现状及存在的问题

 凤眼莲(Eichhornia crassipes)原产南美洲,被列为世界十大恶性杂草之一,现已入侵了非洲、亚洲、北美洲、大洋州、甚至欧洲等5个大洲,至少62个国家和地区都受到了凤眼莲入侵的危害。凤眼莲的入侵已经引起了一系列的生态、经济、社会问题：首先,它改变了当地水体生态系统的物理、化学环境,进而影响水体生态系统的生物多样性,破坏食物链、物质循环等生态过程的正常运行;其次,凤眼莲造成当地经济的重大损失,航运、渔业、水利等都受到了危害;再次,凤眼莲的入侵爆发也对当地居民饮水、健康等造成威胁。目前,对于凤眼莲的控制及其治理主要有物理的、化学的、以及生物的等3种方法。利用天敌、病菌、以及化感作用等的生物控制被许多专家和学者推崇,同时,利用生物控制凤眼莲入侵也日益成为研究的热点。但是,综合目前对于凤眼莲的认识和研究,仍然具有片面性,需要从生物特性、种群生态、生态系统等方面深入研究凤眼莲入侵机制。而利用生物控制凤眼莲的研究和技术尚不完善,需要进行种间竞争、捕食及遗传变异等方面的探讨和研究。通过总结控制凤眼莲各种方法的长处和不足,最后指出利用生物的方法,并结合污水治理、水系宏观调控及监测等方法,综合治理凤眼莲,是十分必要的,而且也是最具有前景的。     

湖北四湖泊营养类型与轮虫群落的关系

对湖北梁子湖水系不同营养类型(中营养型、富营养型)4个湖泊中轮虫的群落结构和物种多样性进行了周年研究,分析比较了不同营养类型湖泊的轮虫种类组成、分布、优势种组成、密度、生物量和多样性指数。结果表明：轮虫的种类数、物种多样性与营养水平呈负相关关系,轮虫密度大体上随营养水平提高而增大,富营养化引起轮虫空间异质性降低,受污染湖泊与非污染湖泊轮虫种类数、寡污性种类数及分布差异尤为明显。用多样性指数评价湖泊营养状态与TLIc方法一致。     

The Lake Victoria environment: Its fisheries and wetlands — a review

Recent ecological changes in the Lake Victoria ecosystem have been attributed to the effects of species stockings and, in particular, from predation pressure by the Nile perch. Evidence for the decline of haplochromines due to predation by the Nile perch, while overwhelming, does not necessarily account for these gross ecological changes. Ecological theory predicts that natural fluctuation would occur in a fisheries where predator and prey species could alternate in abundance. The absence of a substantial recovery of the endemic species within cyclical abundance patterns in Lake Victoria (even though they could be delayed), particularly in the pelagic and profundal zones, points to other causal factors.Ecological changes have occurred in Lake Victoria since the turn of the century when modern fishing methods and techniques were introduced. As the human population increased and the catchment became more exposed to diverse socio-economic activities, further pressure on the ecological functioning of the lake was compounded by exotic species stockings. Thus, declining fisheries, wetland degradation and eutrophication are part of gross environmental changes that are likely to become more manifest with the increasing impact of the water hyacinth. It therefore seems appropriate to consider the ecological changes at both temporal and spatial scales and to re-examine some of the paradigms for ecological change.Although cataclysmic impacts may have occurred between the 1960's and the early 1980's, the basic cause of ecological changes, at least in the inshore zone, appears to result from human activities partly associated with a degradation of the riparian wetlands that exposes the aquatic ecosystem to catchment activities. Overexploitation and a reduction in habitat quality and quantity in this zone could be major factors in the ecological transformations. However, the importance of the littoral zone and the ecological impact of the Nile tilapia, another stocked species, are hardly known. An additional hypothesis is therefore put forward to determine whether or not wetland vegetation types in Lake Victoria are important fish habitats. This hypothesis allows for testing several interrelated sub-hypotheses about the relationships between wetland vegetation and the ecology of Nile tilapia. The water hyacinth, a recent feature of the shoreline and an additional strain to the already endangered buffer zone, may have to be regarded as a dynamic, but permanent, part of most of the littoral zone.Corresponding Editor: Prof. P. Denny     

江湖阻隔对长江中下游湖泊鱼类群落分类多样性的影响

基于1950s以来的长江中下游湖泊鱼类调查数据,分析通江湖泊与阻隔湖泊的鱼类分类多样性差异,以及通江和阻隔湖泊鱼类分类多样性的时间序列变化,探讨江湖阻隔对鱼类多样性的影响。结果显示,阻隔湖泊鱼类物种数、平均分类差异指数(Δ⁺)和分类差异变异指数(Λ⁺)平均值分别为48.47±14.64、74.02±3.09和736.89±33.80;通江湖泊为76.22±14.40、78.31±0.98和697.31±25.53。阻隔湖泊物种数和Δ⁺值显著低于通江湖泊(P<0.001),而阻隔湖泊Λ⁺值显著高于通江湖泊(P=0.002),表明阻隔湖泊物种间亲缘关系更近,均匀度下降,即物种分类单元减少,且集中分布于某几个分类阶元,稳定性变差。典型通江与阻隔湖泊鱼类群落分类多样性的时间变化分析发现,两种类型湖泊的鱼类物种数和Δ⁺值均随时间推移整体呈现下降趋势,Λ⁺值整体呈现升高趋势;并且阻隔湖泊的Λ+值随阻隔时间增加而大幅上升,Δ⁺和Λ^+...     

Drivers and stressors of freshwater biodiversity patterns across different ecosystems and scales: a review

The present review with focus on the last decade (2000–2010) aims to (i) collecting the major hypotheses explaining freshwater biodiversity patterns, (ii) identifying the main stressors affecting freshwater biodiversity, and (iii) revealing information gaps regarding ecosystem types, organism groups, spatial and temporal scales to highlight research needs to better propose sound conservation measures. The comparative analysis addresses six organism groups ranging from microorganisms to fish in basins, rivers, lakes, wetlands, ponds and groundwater. Short-term studies at ecoregion and catchment scale focusing on invertebrates, macrophytes and fish in Palaearctic and Nearctic regions dominated. The most frequent hypotheses tested were the landscape filter concept, the species–area relationship, the metacommunity concept. Dominating natural drivers were area, heterogeneity and disturbance. Land use, eutrophication and habitat destruction were identified as most important stressors. Generally, freshwater biodiversity declined in response to these stressors in contrast to increasing biodiversity determined by natural drivers across all ecosystems. Preferred organism groups were fish and invertebrates, most frequently studied in rivers, in contrast to smaller organisms (e.g. bacteria) and, e.g. groundwater being underrepresented. Hypotheses originating from the last century are still tested in freshwater research, while novel concepts are either missing or untested. Protection of freshwater biodiversity is the ultimate challenge since it supports valuable ecosystems services ensuring perpetuation of mankind. For that, comprehensive large-scale studies with holistic approaches are urgently needed.     

Homogenization of fish assemblages in different lake depth strata at local and regional scales

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Fish diversity in European lakes: geographical factors dominate over anthropogenic pressures

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Impacts of space,local environment and habitat connectivity on macrophyte communities in conservation lakes

Aim  To assess the relative impacts of spatial, local environmental and habitat connectivity on the structure of aquatic macrophyte communities in lakes designated for their conservation value. Location  Selected lakes of conservation importance all over Scotland, representing a wide variety of lake habitat types and associated macrophyte communities. Methods  Local environmental variables and species occurrence were measured in the field. Spatial variables were generated using principal coordinates of neighbour matrices (PCNM) analysis. Connectivity between each lake and its neighbours was defined as either (i) all lakes within a radius of 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 or 100 km; (ii) all lakes in same river system; or (iii) all lakes in the same catchment and upstream of the lake. Using variance partitioning within canonical correspondence analysis, the relative impact of E = local environment, S = space and C = lake connectivity was compared on submerged (n = 119 lakes) and emergent (n = 96 lakes) macrophyte assemblages. Results  Local environmental conditions, such as total phosphorus, alkalinity/conductivity and the presence of invasive species, as well as spatial gradients were key drivers of observed variation in macrophyte communities; e.g., for submerged macrophytes, a combination of local to moderate factors relating to water chemistry and broad‐scale gradients reflecting elevation and climate are important. Spatially structured environmental variables explained a large portion of observed variation. Main conclusions  Our findings confirmed the need to manage local environmental pressures such as eutrophication, but suggested that the traditional catchment approach was insufficient. The spatial aggregation of environmental and connectivity factors indicated that a landscape scale approach should be used in lake management to augment the risk assessment to conservation species from the deterioration of suitable lake sites over broad biogeographic areas.     

Does the decline of gastropods in deep water herald ecosystem change in Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika?

1. Ancient, deep lakes have traditionally been considered as stable, ecological islands, well buffered from environmental change because of their great depth. However, they are not immune to anthropogenic and climatic stress. Ecosystems of the permanently stratified warm Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika in the Great East African Rift are particularly delicate. Their stratification regime has historically limited the distribution of benthic biota to a ‘bathtub ring of biodiversity’, namely substrata in the upper, oxygenated water layer. 2. We use historical data on the endemic deep‐water molluscs of these lakes to assess present‐day stress on their benthic ecosystems. During the 20th century, these molluscs have probably decreased in abundance and migrated to shallower water. 3. These apparent trends have a significance beyond species‐based conservation, foremost because deep‐water organisms heavily rely on the position and temporal stability of the oxycline and therefore provide an early warning of large‐scale changes in the distribution of dissolved oxygen. Oxygen demands have increased in the East African Great Lakes over the last century whereas ventilation of deep water has remained the same or declined. 4. The combination of these factors is resulting in a narrowing of the ring of biodiversity and a changed nutrient flux through this ring. Reduction in the habitat available inevitably puts biota at risk, whereas changes in nutrient flux may cause shifts in the entire ecosystem or the collapse of parts of it. 5. Considering the socioeconomic value of these lakes and the potentially grave implications for their faunal biodiversity and entire ecosystems, existing evidence of faunal decline, especially in taxa that depend strongly on the stratification regime, is of great concern. Moreover, because the factors responsible are widespread and include surface‐water warming, increased run‐off and eutrophication, respiration stress may also develop in other tropical and subtropical lakes.     

Ecological sensitivity of marl lakes to nutrient enrichment: evidence from Hawes Water,UK

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Tropical lakes — functional ecology and future development:. The need for a process-orientated approach

The major classes of tropical lakes include shallow, lowland lakes; deep, tertiary lakes; high altitudinal lakes; rainforests lakes; and man-made lakes at all latitudes and altitudes. Basic ecological processes are similar in temperate and tropical lakes, including grazing, competition, predation and abiotic adaptation. Small tropical lakes of intermediate age are probably not biotically more complicated than similar-sized temperate lakes. The structure of the areas of adaptative radiation and the dispersal ability of the species are important for the present distribution of taxa. Fish play a key role in the tropics since many species both consume zooplankton and compete with them for algal and pelagic sestonic food. This important co-evolution between fish and algae, leaving a fraction of the algal community with a predation refuge, may have decreased the ability of zooplankton to exploit algae. In addition, heavy predation from juvenile and adult fish may greatly simplify the zooplankton community, and have resulted in the scarcity of Cladocera, notably the efficient filter-feeder Daphnia. Little is known of possible physiological constraints to cladoceran distribution, however. Thus similar co-evolution as hypothesized between fish and algae seems not to have occurred to such a great extent between fish and zooplankton. Diurnal patterns in habitat selection of fish may also influence nutrient re-distribution in the tropics as in many temperate lakes. Serious environmental problems threaten tropical lakes, including eutrophication, clear-cutting of the rain forest, unwise introduction of new species not adapted to prevailing conditions, overfishing, extensive use of biocids, and probably acidic rain in areas with poorly buffered waters. Important processes in tropical lakes could be elucidated by concentrating research upon the fate of phytoplankton successional production, involving competition, grazing, sinking, fungi and bacterial attack. Co-evolution of fish and algae should be further investigated as it could in part explain the general scarcity and simplicity of the zooplankton community. Limnocorral experiments should also be used for further assessing processes in tropical lakes.     

Ecological and socio‐economic impacts of invasive water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes): a review

1. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is one of the world’s most invasive aquatic plants and is known to cause significant ecological and socio‐economic effects. 2. Water hyacinth can alter water clarity and decrease phytoplankton production, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, heavy metals and concentrations of other contaminants. 3. The effects of water hyacinth on ecological communities appear to be largely nonlinear. Abundance and diversity of aquatic invertebrates generally increase in response to increased habitat heterogeneity and structural complexity provided by water hyacinth but decrease due to decreased phytoplankton (food) availability. 4. Effects of water hyacinth on fish are largely dependent on original community composition and food‐web structure. A more diverse and abundant epiphytic invertebrate community may increase fish abundance and diversity, but a decrease in phytoplankton may decrease dissolved oxygen concentrations and planktivorous fish abundance, subsequently affecting higher trophic levels. 5. Little is known about the effects of water hyacinth on waterbird communities; however, increases in macroinvertebrate and fish abundance and diversity suggest a potentially positive interaction with waterbirds when water hyacinth is at moderate density. 6. The socio‐economic effects of water hyacinth are dependent on the extent of the invasion, the uses of the impacted waterbody, control methods and the response to control efforts. Ecosystem‐level research programmes that simultaneously monitor the effects of water hyacinth on multiple trophic‐levels are needed to further our understanding of invasive species.     

Restoration of shallow lakes by nutrient control and biomanipulation—the successful strategy varies with lake size and climate

Major efforts have been made world-wide to improve the ecological quality of shallow lakes by reducing external nutrient loading. These have often resulted in lower in-lake total phosphorus (TP) and decreased chlorophyll a levels in surface water, reduced phytoplankton biomass and higher Secchi depth. Internal loading delays recovery, but in north temperate lakes a new equilibrium with respect to TP often is reached after <10–15 years. In comparison, the response time to reduced nitrogen (N) loading is typically <5 years. Also increased top-down control may be important. Fish biomass often declines, and the percentage of piscivores, the zooplankton:phytoplankton biomass ratio, the contribution of Daphnia to zooplankton biomass and the cladoceran size all tend to increase. This holds for both small and relatively large lakes, for example, the largest lake in Denmark (40 km²), shallow Lake Arresø, has responded relatively rapidly to a ca. 76% loading reduction arising from nutrient reduction and top-down control. Some lakes, however, have proven resistant to loading reductions. To accelerate recovery several physico-chemical and biological restoration methods have been developed for north temperate lakes and used with varying degrees of success. Biological measures, such as selective removal of planktivorous fish, stocking of piscivorous fish and implantation or protection of submerged plants, often are cheap versus traditional physico-chemical methods and are therefore attractive. However, their long-term effectiveness is uncertain. It is argued that additional measures beyond loading reduction are less cost-efficient and often not needed in very large lakes. Although fewer data are available on tropical lakes these seem to respond to external loading reductions, an example being Lake Paranoá, Brazil (38 km²). However, differences in biological interactions between cold temperate versus warm temperate-subtropical-tropical lakes make transfer of existing biological restoration methods to warm lakes difficult. Warm lakes often have prolonged growth seasons with a higher risk of long-lasting algal blooms and dense floating plant communities, smaller fish, higher aggregation of fish in vegetation (leading to loss of zooplankton refuge), more annual fish cohorts, more omnivorous feeding by fish and less specialist piscivory. The trophic structures of warm lakes vary markedly, depending on precipitation, continental or coastal regions locations, lake age and temperature. Unfortunately, little is known about trophic dynamics and the role of fish in warm lakes. Since many warm lakes suffer from eutrophication, new insights are needed into trophic interactions and potential lake restoration methods, especially since eutrophication is expected to increase in the future owing to economic development and global warming.     

Water quality parameters and tipping points of dragonfly diversity and abundance in fishponds

Fishponds are often enriched with nutrients in order to increase phytoplankton and zooplankton populations to support fish production. This eutrophication often leads to a global decrease of biodiversity. This biodiversity shift may be identified by a tipping point, the value of an environmental parameter above which a significant change of species richness and abundance occurs. A total of 110 eutrophic to highly eutrophic fishponds were studied in two areas in France to investigate parameters governing dragonfly species richness and species abundance by determining tipping points. Parameters investigated were chlorophyll a (CHL), water transparency, total N (TN), total P (TP), aquatic plant richness and coverage, adult dragonfly richness and abundance, and fish harvest. A high species richness of dragonflies was found in fishponds, with a total of 34 species, including six species of conservation concern. Dragonfly richness and abundance was shown to be negatively influenced by higher degrees of eutrophication. A high diversity of dragonflies occurred in the fishponds with CHL concentrations below 127 µg/l, water transparency above 67 cm, TN concentrations below 2.30 mg/l, and a fish harvest smaller than 253 kg/ha. A minimum of 5% of aquatic plant cover and the presence of a minimum 9 aquatic plant species seem to promote the richness and abundance of dragonflies. According to tipping points, 19 dragonfly species could be determined as indicator species for water quality in fishponds.