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Macrozooplankton communities in Lake Tanganyika indicate food chain differences between the northern part and the main basins

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Abstract

Medusae predominate the macrozooplankton in the northernmost part of Lake Tanganyika, while shrimps are more abundant towards the south. In the stomach contents of centropomidae Lates stappersii (one of the four nile perch species in the lake), there were more shrimps both in percentage and frequency in Mpulungu area in the south, than in Kigoma area in the north where the diet of L. stappersii contained bigger proportion of copepods. The results suggest differences in the food chains of the northern and southern pelagic ecosystems of Lake Tanganyika. Food chain differences, probably arise basically from different patterns of mixing, due to seasonal winds and orientation of the lake relative to wind.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lake Tanganyika Research, FAO-FINNIDA, P.O.Box 90, Kigoma, Tanzania

    H. Kurki & P. Mannini

  2. Archipelago Research Institute, University of Turku, FIN - 20014, Turku, Finland

    I. Vuorinen

  3. Game and Fisheries Research Institute, P.O. Box 6, FIN - 00 721, Helsinki, Finland

    E. Aro

  4. Department of Applied Zoology and Veterinary Medicine, University of Kuopio, P.O. Box 1627, FIN - 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    H. Kurki, H. Mölsä & O.V. Lindqvist

Authors
  1. H. Kurki
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  2. P. Mannini
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  3. I. Vuorinen
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  4. E. Aro
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  5. H. Mölsä
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  6. O.V. Lindqvist
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Kurki, H., Mannini, P., Vuorinen, I. et al. Macrozooplankton communities in Lake Tanganyika indicate food chain differences between the northern part and the main basins. Hydrobiologia 407, 123–129 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003745716238

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003745716238

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