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Changes in species composition and abundance of fish populations in Lake Turkana, Kenya

  • Chapter
Book cover The Impact of Species Changes in African Lakes

Part of the book series: Chapman & Hall Fish and Fisheries Series ((FIFI,volume 18))

Abstract

Lake Turkana, a large holomictic endorheic Rift Valley lake between 2°27′ N and 4°40′N in the arid northern part of Kenya (Fig. 16.1), is relatively little studied and understood. Besides a 1930–31 Cambridge University Expedition (Worthington and Ricardo, 1936), which worked for only a few months on the lake in a localized area, only one major investigation into the biology has been made. This was the Lake Turkana Fisheries Research Project sponsored by the Overseas Development Administration of the UK Government from 1972 to 1975, which submitted an exhaustive report on the limnology, biology and productivity of the lake (Hopson, 1982a). Probably due to its equatorial location, Lake Turkana has commonly been associated with environmental and biological stability (e.g. Beadle, 1981; Merona et al., 1988). It appears, however, under closer scrutiny to be more in a state of perpetual change strongly governed by the hydrological regime (Kolding, 1992).

KNA, Kenya National Archives, Nairobi. File name: DC/LODWAR/1/8/5 — Fishing on Lake Rudolf 1954–57.

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Authors
  1. Jeppe Kolding
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Tony J. Pitcher

  2. Department of Zoology, Leicester University, Leicester, UK

    Paul J. B. Hart

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Kolding, J. (1995). Changes in species composition and abundance of fish populations in Lake Turkana, Kenya. In: Pitcher, T.J., Hart, P.J.B. (eds) The Impact of Species Changes in African Lakes. Chapman & Hall Fish and Fisheries Series, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0563-7_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0563-7_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4249-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0563-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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