Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T08:53:27.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The phytoplankton periodicities of two warm-climate lakes subject to marked seasonal variability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

M. A. Khan
Affiliation:
Ecology Research Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Post Box 726, GPO, Srinagar-190001, India

Abstract

The phytoplankton periodicity of a tropical upland reservoir in Nigeria (Liberty Dam, Jos Plateau) and a temperate-type lake (L. Naranbagh) from the Kashmir Himalaya were compared. Variations in the phytoplankton communities in the water-bodies were both quantitative and qualitative. Liberty Dam conformed to the oligotrophic-desmid plankton type whilst in L.Naranbagh, phytoplankton resembled the eutrophic chlorococcales-diatom plankton type. Contrary to the general belief of muted (or lack of) seasonal changes in tropical regions, phytoplankton succession in the Jos reservoir was pronounced with dense persistence of some species for relatively short periods. The most striking fluctuations, typical of many temperate waters, were characteristic of L. Naranbagh with a build-up of plankton during summer and autumn. Variability in photosynthetic productivity was related to shifts in the climate-dependent population densities. The seasonal growth of the Jos phytoplankton reflected the alteration from the dry ‘Harmattan’ (December–February) to wetter (May–September) periods. These are analogous to the winter (December–February) and summer (June–August) seasons of the Kashmir Himalayan Valley. Phytoplankton associations and periodicities in each of the two warm-belt lakes were strongly driven by their respective local environments, including especially the marked seasonality of the climatic variables (rain, wind and solar radiation). Detailed comparisons of adequate long-term data from tropical and temperate waters are still required.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Allen, W. E. 1946. “Red Water” in La Jolla Bay in 1945. Transactions of the American Microscopic Society 65:149152.Google Scholar
Beadle, L. C. 1981. The inland waters of tropical Africa – an introduction to tropical limnology. 2nd ed.Longman, London, 475 pp.Google Scholar
Biswas, S. 1969. The Volta Lake: some ecological observations on the phytoplankton. Verkandlungen der internationalen Vereinigung Limnologie 17:259272.Google Scholar
Biswas, S. 1972. Ecology of phytoplankton of the Volta Lake. Hydrobiologia 39:277288.Google Scholar
Biswas, S. 1978. Observations on phytoplankton and primary productivity in Volta Lake, Ghana. Verkandlungen der internationalen Vereinigung Limnologie 20:16721676.Google Scholar
Egborge, A. B. M. 1974. The seasonal variation and distribution of phytoplankton in the River Oshun, Nigeria. Freshwater Biology 4:177191.Google Scholar
Eloranta, P. 1987. Lake Titicaca phytoplankton species composition and structural comparisons with other tropical and temperate lakes. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 110:365385.Google Scholar
Goldman, C. R. & Horne, A. J. 1983. Limnology, McGraw-Hil. Book Co. London464 pp.Google Scholar
Hare, L. & Carter, J. C. H. 1984. Diel and seasonal physico-chemical fluctuations in a small West African lake. Freshwater Biology 14:597610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, G. & Rai, H. 1982. A preliminary characteristics of the tropical lakes of the Central Amazon by comparison with polar and temperate systems. Archiv für Hydrobiologie 96:97111.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G. E. 1937. Limnological studies in Indian Tibet. Internationale Revue der Gesamten Hydrobiologie 35:134177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchinson, G. E. 1967. A treatise on limnology. Vol. III. Introduction to the lake biology and limnoplankton. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1115 pp.Google Scholar
Imevbore, A. M. A. 1968. Planktonic algae of Eleiyele reservoir. Nigerian Journal of Sciences 2:8590.Google Scholar
John, D. M. 1986. The inland waters of tropical West Africa. Archives für Hydrobiologie Beihefte 23:224 pp.Google Scholar
Kadiri, M. O. & Opute, F. I. 1989. A rich flora of Micrasterias from the Ikpoba reservoir, Nigeria. Archives für Hydrobiologie 116:391394Google Scholar
Kalff, J. & Watson, S. 1986. Phytoplankton and its dynamics in two tropical lakes: a tropical and temperate zone comparison. Hydrobiologia 138:161176.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. 1984a. Contribution to the freshwater algae of Nigeria. I. Some Jos Plateau desmids. Nova Hedwigia (Stuttgart) 39:293296.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. 1984b. Studies on primary productivity and some hydrochemical aspects of a polluted water-body from Himalayan Jhelum Valley. Acta Hydrochimica et Hydrobiologica (Berlin) 12:539548.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. 1985. Spatio-temporal variability in two Himalayan lacustrine ecosystems. Acta Hydrochimica et Hydrobiologica (Berlin) 13:249257.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. 1986. Hydrobiology and organic production in a marl lake of Kashmir Himalayan Valley. Hydrobiologia 135:233242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khan, M. A. 1987. Contribution to the knowledge of freshwater algae of Nigeria. II. Phytoplankton of some waters on a fish-farm at Panyam, Nigeria. Nova Hedwigia (Stuttgart) 44:473477.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. 1993. Euglenoid red-bloom contributing to the environmental pollution of Dal Lake, Kashmir Himalaya. Environmental Conservation (Switzerland) 20:352356.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. & Agugo, B. A. C. 1990. Ecological studies and trophic state evaluation of a tropical impoundment in West Africa. Acta Hydrochimica et Hydrobiologica (Berlin) 18:325331.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. & Ejike, C. 1984a. Limnology and plankton periodicity of Jos Plateau water reservoir, Nigeria, West Africa. Hydrobiologia 114:189199.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A. & Ejike, C. 1984b. Limnological aspects of plankton variation and water characteristics of tropical West African reservoir. Verhandlungen der internationalen Vereinigung Limnologie 22:15841589.Google Scholar
Khan, M. A., Fagbemi, T. & Ejike, C. 1983. Diurnal variations of physico-chemical factors and planktonic organisms in Jos Plateau (West Africa) water reservoir. Japanese Journal of Limnology 44:6571.Google Scholar
Kimball, H. H. 1928. Amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface of earth, the land and the sea and the method by which it is measured. Monthly Weather Review 56:393398.Google Scholar
Lemoalle, J. 1981. Photosynthetic production and phytoplankton in the euphotic zone of some African and temperate lakes. Revue der Hydrobiologica tropicale 14:3137.Google Scholar
Lind, E. M. 1968. Notes on the distribution of phytoplankton in some Kenyan waters. British Phycological Bulletin 33:481493.Google Scholar
Löffler, H. 1969. High altitude lakes in Mt. Everest region. Verhandlungen der internationalen Vereinigung Limnologie 17:373385.Google Scholar
Melack, J. M. 1979. Temporal variability of phytoplankton in tropical lakes. Oecologia (Berlin) 44:17.Google Scholar
Morgan, W. T. 1979. The Jos Plateau – a survey of environment and land use. Occasional Publications (New Series) Number 14. Department of Geography, University of Durham, 45 pp.Google Scholar
Nicholls, K. H., Kennedy, W. & Hammett, C. 1980. A fish-kill in Heart Lake, Ontario, associated with the collapse of a massive population of Ceratium hirundinella (Dinophyceae). Freshwater Biology 10:553561.Google Scholar
Patten, B. C. 1966. The bioceoenotic process in an estuarine phytoplankton community. Oak Ridge National Laboratory of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, 3946, Oc-48-Biology & Medicine, 97 pp.Google Scholar
Reynolds, C. S. 1986. The ecology of freshwater phytoplankton. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge384 pp.Google Scholar
Surruya, C. & Pollingher, U. 1971. An attempt at forecasting the Peridinium bloom in Lake Kinneret (Lake Tiberias). Mitteilungen internationalt Vereinigung Limnologie 79:277291.Google Scholar
Talling, J. F. 1965. Comparative problems of phytoplankton production and photosynthetic productivity in a tropical and a temperate lake. Memorie dell'Instituto italiano di Idrobiologia 18 Suppl. 399424.Google Scholar
Vollenweider, R. A. 1974. A manual on methods for measuring primary production in aquatic environments. International Biological Programme Handbook Number 12, 2nd edition, Oxford, Blackwell, 225 pp.Google Scholar
Wetzel, R. G. 1975. Limnology, W. B. Saunders Co, London743 pp.Google Scholar
Zutshi, D. P. & Vass, K. K. 1982. Limnological studies on Dal Lake, Srinagar. III. Biological features. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy, (B) 48:234241.Google Scholar
Zutshi, D. P., Kaul, V. & Vass, K. K. 1972. Limnology of high altitude Kashmir lakes. Verkandlungen der internationalen Vereinigung Limnologie 18:599604.Google Scholar