Abstract
Lake Chilwa, a large evaporation pan in Central Africa, is subject to seasonal and long-term fluctuations in water level. Several investigations on benthic invertebrates spanning an eleven year period are brought together to cover a complete hydrological cycle. The relative importance of various habitats for benthic invertebrates is considered from refilling of the lake after a dry phase through to exceptionally high lake levels when marsh outside a peripheral Typha swamp was flooded.
Data collected during different phases of the cycle draw attention to the high invertebrate biomass of the marsh during periods of high lake level. This unstable habitat supports 86% of the total invertebrate biomass of the lake. Fish production is also shown to be related to lake level and is significantly higher when the widespread flooding of the marsh occurs. The paper stresses the importance of this littoral zone in the functioning of the lake ecosystem.
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© 1988 Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht
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Cantrel, M.A. (1988). Effect of lake level fluctuations on the habitats of benthic invertebrates in a shallow tropical lake. In: Melack, J.M. (eds) Saline Lakes. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 44. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3095-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3095-7_8
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