Distribution and Faunal Associations of Benthic Invertebrates at Lake Turkana, Kenya
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Hydrobiologia 141 : 1 7 9 -197 (1986) 179 © Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht - Printed in the Netherlands Distribution and faunal associations of benthic invertebrates at Lake Turkana, Kenya Andrew S. Cohen Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ 85721, USA Keywords : Lake Turkana, benthic, invertebrates, Africa, ostracods Abstract The benthic environment and fauna of Lake Turkana were studied during 1978-1979 to determine distri- bution patterns and associations of benthic invertebrates . Lake Turkana is a large, closed-basin, alkaline lake, located in northern Kenya . Detailed environmental information is currently only available for substrate variations throughout Lake Turkana . Water chemistry and other data are currently inadequate to evaluate their effects on the distribution of Lake Turkana benthic invertebrates . Three weak faunal-substrate associations were discovered at Turkana . A littoral, soft bottom association (large standing crop) is dominated by the corixid Micronecta sp. and the ostracod Hemicypris kliei. A littoral, rocky bottom association, also with a large standing crop, is dominated by various gastropods and insects. A profundal, muddy bottom association, with a very small standing crop, is dominated by the ostracods Hemicypris intermedia and Sclerocypris cf. clavularis and several gastropod and chironomid species . Introduction Location and water chemistry Studies of the benthos of lakes contribute impor- Lake Turkana, the largest lake in the Gregory tant data towards our comprehension of the lacus- (Eastern) Rift Valley of E. Africa, lies in the trine ecosystem . For a wide variety of reasons such semiarid-arid northernmost part of Kenya (Fig . 1) . work has lagged behind the study of the planktonic Because of its remote location, it has been the least and nektonic elements of most lakes . Sampling studied of the African Great Lakes . Catchment difficulties and lack of standardized methods and drainages on the east side of the lake are primarily presentation of results are only a few of the factors derived in volcanic-rift related terrains whereas the working to limit advances in our knowledge of west side of the lake drains a mixture of volcanic lacustrine benthic organisms . Not surprisingly and Precambrian metamorphic terrains . The lake is therefore, the study of the lacustrine benthos in E . a closed basin with one major perennial influent, Africa, where even planktonic ecology is poorly un- the Omo River, two semiperennial streams, the derstood, can only be described as rudimentary. Kerio and Turkwell, and numerous seasonal and In this report I present preliminary results flash flood streams (Fig . 2) . describing the benthos of Lake Turkana, Kenya . Like most other lakes in the Eastern Rift, Lake This study provides an initial understanding of the Turkana is moderately alkaline and saline, of the distributional ecology of the Lake's invertebrate sodium chloride/sodium bicarbonate variety (Ta- fauna, as well as data on abiotic factors influencing ble 1) . Alkalinity varied between the observed distribution patterns . 17-20 .64 meq . I -1 total CO3 2 + HCO3 within the lake proper during the study period, with some- 180 Koobi Fore N Allia Bay 0 25 Jarigole K m . 3 ° 30'N . - Moiti Eliye Spgs : -~Lolebe N. Sandy Bay - Turkwell River S . Sandy Bay Porr Fig. 1. Location map of Lake Turkana, Kenya . Rift Valley shown by hatchured lines . From Cohen (1984) . what higher values occurring mostly in marginal embayments and the north basin of the lake and Fig. 2. Bathymetric contour map for Lake Turkana . Contour in- terval is 20 m. Adapted from data from Hopson (1975) . Note lower values in the southern basin. Alkalinity of the that the place name Loyangalani, in the SE part of the map area Omo Delta region water during flood stage was appears on other maps in this paper under an older, alternative considerably more dilute (mean 7 .63 meq .1 -1 ). spelling Loiengalani. From Cohen (1984) . pH for the same intervals and localities registered 8.6-9.5 (main lake) and 7 .7 (Omo Delta) . Addi- tional details of dissolved gas concentrations, alka- between 23-32'C depending on time of day and linity and water chemistry are given in Yuretich location . (1976, 1979), Hopson (1982) and Cohen (1982, Lake Turkana water exhibits high organic and in- 1984). organic turbidity on both a seasonal and continu- Outside of some marginal embayments Lake Tur- ous basis, such that macrophyte growth is restricted kana is unstratified with respect to dissolved oxy- to less than one meter water depth in the extreme gen and temperature. Weak daily stratification cy- north. In parts of the sediment starved Southern cles develop at midday and breakdown each night . Basin this depth increases to over four meters (see The water column is usually supersaturated with re- Hopson, 1982 and Cohen, 1982 for details) . spect to oxygen, even at depths greater than 60 meters, due to strong wind activity . Even near the maximum depths of the lake, TDO averages Previous work 60-80% saturation . Water temperatures at maxi- mum depths fluctuated between 24-26.5 °C during Interest in the benthic fauna of L. Turkana dates the study interval . Surface temperatures fluctuated from the Cambridge University Expedition to the 1 81 Table 1. Water chemistry determinations for Lake Turkana, 1931 - 1979 . Turkana is a sodium carbonate-bicarbonate lake, typical of the Eastern Rift Lakes of Africa . Values in mg/1, except alkalinity (meq/1), P0 4 (µg/1), conductivity-k 20 (µmho/cm) and pH . From Cohen (1984) . Author (date of pH Na K Ca Mg Alk . Cl So4 P0 4 Total P Si0 2 F TDS K20 study/Ref. date) Beadle (1931/1932) - 770 23 .0 5 .0 4 .0 21 .7 429 .0 56 4 .2 - - 2860 Beadle (1931/1932) 9 .5 - 19 .4 - 715 5 .0 - Fish (1953/1954) 9 .7 - - 5 .8 - 21 .6 320 57 .6 - 24 Fish (1954/unpub) 23 .0 Tailing and Talling (1961/1965) 810 21 5 .7 3 .0 24 .5 475 64 - 2600 18 Yuretich (1973 - 1974/1976) 9 .2 (749) (18 .2) (3 .8) (2 .3) (19 .0) (505) (38) - - (18 .5) - (2488) Cerling (1975/1977) 9 .2 767 22 4 .6 2 .4 22 .2 440 36 .7 - - 22 .2 8 .6 2584 This study (1978/1979/-) 8 .6-9 .3 - - 16 .1-21 .8 (9 .1) (19 .5) East African Lakes in the early 1930s . Work at Tur- Severe famine in northern Kenya lead the British kana was limited by severe logistical difficulties of Government in the 1960s to institute the Lake the day, and was primarily taxonomic in nature . Rudolf Fisheries Research Project (LRFRP), in an Fish and plankton studies (Beadle, 1932 ; Worthing- effort to alleviate food shortages by introducing ton, 1932; Worthington & Ricardo, 1936) comprise fishing into the local (previously pastoral) econo- the bulk of the work published from this research . my. In addition to stimulating the first in-depth Some ostracod descriptions from collections made study of the biology of the L. Turkana fish popula- by this expedition were published by Lowndes tions, a considerable effort was expended in study- (1936). ing the benthos, as part of a routine limnological Arambourg's 1932-1933 expedition to Turkana survey of the lake . followed, from which Roger (1944) described 17 Accurate depth soundings by the LRFRP led to species of molluscs from the lake . It is clear howev- the first good bathymetric map of the lake (Hop- er, that these were actually shell collections from on son, 1975) (Fig . 2). Lake Turkana is divided into shore, representing reworked Holocene fossils and two distinct bathymetric basins (North and South) not living populations. with a maximum (South Basin) depth of approxi- Lindroth visited Lake Turkana briefly in 1948 as mately 115 m . Valuable studies of primary and part of a study of the taxonomy and biogeography secondary productivity in various lake environ- of East Africa freshwater ostracods (1953) . He ments (Ferguson, 1975), identified constraints on made a number of dip-net collections in and any future estimates of energy flow into the detriti- around Ferguson's Gulf, but took no dredge or bot- vore food chain . Detailed results of the LRFRP are tom samples. presented in Hopson (1982) . Butzer (1971), in a major study of the Omo River In connection with the LRFRP, Yuretich (1976) Delta, described sedimentological and vegetational conducted a sedimentological study of the lake . regimes of the near lake and prodeltaic regions Among his results were several of significance for around the river mouth. In addition, his climatic the present study, including a) the low organic car- studies have been important in deciphering the bon content of Turkana deep water sediments, b) cause and response correlations between short-term relatively high profundal sediment accumulation lake level fluctuations and climatic changes . rates (up to 1 mm • a -'), and c) description and 1 82 mapping of numerous textural and mineralogical shore), diurnal variations in the shelly benthos of features of the lake's deep water substrates, particu- this lake are insignificant . However, diurnal vertical larly for areas not visited by the present author. migrations of dipteran larvae, known to occur in other East African lakes (Burgis et al., 1973) presented an intractable problem beyond the scope Methods of this study. At some shallow water stations, shingle or heavi- Faunal and sediment samples were collected at ly vegetated bottoms prevented the proper opera- 331 stations throughout the lake during tion of the dredge and qualitative samples were col- July-September 1978 and July-November 1979 lected by hand . Sampling in certain shallow water (Fig. 3). Samples were taken using a modified Ek- embayments was also inhibited by the considerable 2 man Dredge with a collecting area of 225 cm and population of Crocodylus niloticus, whose cooc- a maximum sediment penetration of 50 cm .