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Drivers of phytoplankton diversity in Lake Tanganyika

  • SANTA ROSALIA 50 YEARS ON
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Abstract

In keeping with the theme of this volume, the present article commemorates the 50 years of Hutchinson’s (Am Nat 93:145–159, 1959) famous publication on the ‘very general question of animal diversity’, which obviously leads to the more important question regarding the driving forces of biodiversity and their limitation in various habitats. The study of phytoplankton in large lakes is a challenging task which requires the use of a wide variety of techniques to capture the range of spatial and temporal variations. The analysis of marker pigments may provide an adequate tool for phytoplankton surveys in large water bodies, thanks to automated analysis for processing numerous individual samples, and by achieving sufficient taxonomic resolution for ecological studies. Chlorophylls and carotenoids were analysed by HPLC in water column samples of Lake Tanganyika from 2002 through 2006, at two study sites, off Kigoma (north basin) and off Mpulungu (south basin). Using the CHEMTAX software for calculating contributions of the main algal groups to chlorophyll a, variations of phytoplankton composition and biomass were determined. We also investigated selected samples according to standard taxonomic techniques for elucidating the dominant species composition. Most of the phytoplankton biomass was located in the 0–40 m layer, with maxima at 0 or 20 m, and more rarely at 40 m. Deep chlorophyll maxima (DCM) and surface ‘blooms’ were occasionally observed. The phytoplankton assemblage was essentially dominated by chlorophytes and cyanobacteria, with diatoms developing mainly in the dry season. The dominant cyanobacteria were very small unicells (mostly Synechococcus), which were much more abundant in the southern basin, whereas green algae dominated on average at the northern site. A canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) including the main limnological variables, dissolved nutrients and zooplankton abundance was run to explore environment–phytoplankton relations. The CCA points to physical factors, site and season as key determinants of the phytoplankton assemblage, but also indicates a significant role, depending on the studied site, of calanoid copepods and of nauplii stages. Our data suggest that the factors allowing coexistence of several phytoplankton taxa in the pelagic zone of Lake Tanganyika are likely differential vertical distribution in the water column, which allows spatial partitioning of light and nutrients, and temporal variability (occurring at time scales preventing long-term dominance by a single taxon), along with effects of predation by grazers.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the projects CLIMLAKE and CLIMFISH, both financed by the Federal Science Policy Office, Belgium. The authors are indebted to the teams of the Department of Fisheries (DOF) of Mpulungu, Zambia and of the Tanzanian Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) Kigoma, which were in charge of the regular sampling and analyses. ALT, SS and SP benefited from PhD scholarship from FRIA and FRS-FNRS (Fonds National pour la Recherche Scientifique).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology, URBO, Department of Biology, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium

    Jean-Pierre Descy, Anne-Laure Tarbe, Stéphane Stenuite, Samuel Pirlot, Johan Stimart, Julie Vanderheyden & Bruno Leporcq

  2. Department of Botany, University of Sofia ‘St Kliment Ohridski’, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Maya P. Stoyneva

  3. Tanzanian Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI), Kigoma, Tanzania

    Ismael Kimirei

  4. Department of Fisheries (DOF), Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Mpulungu, Zambia

    Danny Sinyinza

  5. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium

    Pierre-Denis Plisnier

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  1. Jean-Pierre Descy
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  2. Anne-Laure Tarbe
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  3. Stéphane Stenuite
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  4. Samuel Pirlot
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  5. Johan Stimart
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  6. Julie Vanderheyden
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  7. Bruno Leporcq
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  8. Maya P. Stoyneva
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  9. Ismael Kimirei
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  10. Danny Sinyinza
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  11. Pierre-Denis Plisnier
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Correspondence to Jean-Pierre Descy.

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Guest editors: L. Naselli-Flores & G. Rossetti / Fifty years after the “Homage to Santa Rosalia”: Old and new paradigms on biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems

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Descy, JP., Tarbe, AL., Stenuite, S. et al. Drivers of phytoplankton diversity in Lake Tanganyika. Hydrobiologia 653, 29–44 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0343-3

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