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Environmental variability in Lake Naivasha, Kenya, over the last two centuries

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Abstract

Lake Naivasha, Kenya, is one of a number of freshwater lakes in the East African Rift System. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, it has experienced greater anthropogenic influence as a result of increasingly intensive farming of coffee, tea, flowers, and other horticultural crops within its catchment. The water-level history of Lake Naivasha over the past 200 years was derived from a combination of instrumental records and sediment data. In this study, we analysed diatoms in a lake sediment core to infer past lacustrine conductivity and total phosphorus concentrations. We also measured total nitrogen and carbon concentrations in the sediments. Core chronology was established by 210Pb dating and covered a ~186-year history of natural (climatic) and human-induced environmental changes. Three stratigraphic zones in the core were identified using diatom assemblages. There was a change from littoral/epiphytic diatoms such as Gomphonema gracile and Cymbella muelleri, which occurred during a prolonged dry period from ca. 1820 to 1896 AD, through a transition period, to the present planktonic Aulacoseira sp. that favors nutrient-rich waters. This marked change in the diatom assemblage was caused by climate change, and later a strong anthropogenic overprint on the lake system. Increases in sediment accumulation rates since 1928, from 0.01 to 0.08 g cm−2 year−1 correlate with an increase in diatom-inferred total phosphorus concentrations since the beginning of the twentieth century. The increase in phosphorus accumulation suggests increasing eutrophication of freshwater Lake Naivasha. This study identified two major periods in the lake’s history: (1) the period from 1820 to 1950 AD, during which the lake was affected mainly by natural climate variations, and (2) the period since 1950, during which the effects of anthropogenic activity overprinted those of natural climate variation.

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Acknowledgments

This project was carried out through the Graduate School’s GRK 1364 research program on ‘Shaping Earth’s Surface in a Variable Environment,’ funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). We are grateful to the Government of Kenya (Research Permits MOST13/001/30C 59/10, 59/18 and 59/22) and the University of Nairobi for the research permits and their support. We also thank Yannick Garcin and Laura Epp for the field support that they provided. We are grateful to Antje Musiol for the TC and TN measurements, and to Peter Appleby from the University of Liverpool for the 210Pb dating. We would also like to thank Ulrike Herzschuh, Andreas Bergner and all of the graduate school members and participants for inspiring discussions. We also thank Ed Manning for professional proofreading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, Haus 26, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring & Ralph Tiedemann

  2. Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Annett Junginger, Lydia A. Olaka & Martin H. Trauth

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  1. Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring
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  3. Lydia A. Olaka
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  4. Ralph Tiedemann
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Correspondence to Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring.

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Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring, Annett Junginger, and Lydia A. Olaka contributed equally to this work.

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10933_2011_9502_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 1 Lithology, chronology, sampling slices and diatom-based zonation of NSA-3/4. Sediment chronology in years AD, based on seventeen 210Pb dates from NSA-4 (TIFF 9072 kb)

10933_2011_9502_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 2 PCA biplot of species and sample data. Arrows represent species and circles represent samples. Ellipses indicate the diatom-inferred zones (TIFF 8364 kb)

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Stoof-Leichsenring, K.R., Junginger, A., Olaka, L.A. et al. Environmental variability in Lake Naivasha, Kenya, over the last two centuries. J Paleolimnol 45, 353–367 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-011-9502-4

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