Bacteria and their activity in lakes and reservoirs

Abstract

In southern Africa there is a steadily increasing quantity of data on heterotrophic bacterial numbers and activity in reservoirs (see 12.2). In contrast, there are few bacterial data available for southern African lakes, the sole exception being for Swartvlei. Furthermore, the data collected for Swartvlei were mainly for the period 1971–1972 and only a few scattered studies have been done since that time. This is due, in part, to a major emphasis being placed on the limnology of reservoirs by research groups, because of their importance in the subcontinent as the bulk of surface waters in southern Africa are contained in reservoirs and not lakes.