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A 140-year record of recent changes in aquatic productivity in a remote, tropical alpine lake in the Rwenzori Mountain National Park, Uganda

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Abstract

Environmental change in many tropical, alpine habitats remains poorly resolved due to an absence of proximate and sustained observations. In the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa, glaciers have receded rapidly over the last century, and here we assess the impact of this recession through palaeolimnological analyses of a 45 cm sediment core (Buju3) from Lake Bujuku which is closest to the ice-fields and partly supplied by melt water in-flows. 210Pb and 137Cs suggest that Buju3 has an average sedimentation rate of 2.9 mm year−1 and the base of the core can be dated to 1864 ± 20 years. Contemporary diatom taxa found in the lake are dominated by Tabellaria flocculosa and Synedra spp., but also include Achnanthes minutissima and Fragilaria pinnata. However, the diatom flora for Buju3 is less diverse and dominated by small, tychoplanktonic species of Fragilaria. Over the period associated with glacial recession, organic carbon isotope analysis (δ13C) suggests a small but distinct increase in within-lake productivity, which increases in rate since the mid 1970s up to the present day, in line with a shift towards increased algal productivity (as highlighted by C/N ratios). However, the diatom and pollen records appear rather insensitive to changes in glacier recession since the late 19th century.

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Acknowledgements

Research was conducted with the permission and cooperation of Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (Ref. EC583) and Uganda Wildlife Authority. Research was supported primarily by grants from The Royal Geographical Society (Ralph Brown Award) and The Royal Society (Ssemmanda, Taylor, Mackay). We would like to thank the Water Resources Management Department and Rwenzori Mountaineering Service for their assistance in the field and Henry Osmaston for his valuable support prior to and after the expedition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    V. N. Panizzo, A. W. Mackay & N. Rose

  2. Department of Geology, Makerere University, Kampala, 7062, Uganda

    I. Ssemmanda

  3. Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    R. Taylor

  4. NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK

    M. J. Leng

  5. School of Geography, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    M. J. Leng

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  1. V. N. Panizzo
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  2. A. W. Mackay
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Correspondence to V. N. Panizzo.

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Panizzo, V.N., Mackay, A.W., Ssemmanda, I. et al. A 140-year record of recent changes in aquatic productivity in a remote, tropical alpine lake in the Rwenzori Mountain National Park, Uganda. J Paleolimnol 40, 325–338 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9163-5

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