Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Associations and distribution of benthic nematodes in the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes

  • Published:
Hydrobiologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The nematode associations in six Ethiopian rift lakes, one man-made lake, and three crater lakes were studied and related to water conductivity, lake depth and sediment particle size. The lakes investigated lie at moderate altitudes (1200–2000 m), are alkaline and vary in their conductivities. The rift lakes Abijata and Shala and the crater lakes Aranguadi, Kilotes and Chitu are soda lakes (K25 > 6000 µS cm−1), while the remaining five lakes and the man-made Lake Koka are within the freshwater range of conductivity (K25 < 6000 µS cm−1).

A total of 16 species were identified including six new species. The nematode associations varied between lakes and were restricted to very few species in each lake. Most nematodes were restricted to non-saline lakes. The most dilute L. Zwai had a higher number of nematode species (12) and abundance than other lakes. The saline lakes Shala and Kilotes had nematode assemblages made up of only a single species (Mesodorylaimus macrospiculum). No nematodes were found in the hypersaline crater L. Chitu. Tobrilus africanus appeared more euryhaline than other nematodes occurring at conductivities as high as 15 000 µ S cm−1 (L. Abijata). Five of the most common species (Dorylaimus sp., Monhystera stagnalis, Aphanolaimus tudoranceai, Tobrilus africanus and Actinolaimus perplexus) were associated with medium grained sand. A monthly variation in density of nematodes in L. Zwai is also shown.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrássy, I., 1956. Die Rauminhalts- und Gewichtbestimmung der Fadenwurmer (Nematoden). Acta Zool. Acad. Sci. hung. 2: 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, R. M., M. V. Prosser, J. F. Talling & R. B. Wood, 1965. Stratification in tropical African lakes at moderate altitudes (1500 to 2000m). Limnol. Oceanogr. 10: 510–520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, R. M. & R. B. Wood, 1965. Studies on stratification in the Bishoftu crater lakes. J. appl. Ecol. 2: 403–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayly, I. A. E. & W. D. Williams, 1966. Chemical and biological studies on some saline lakes of southest Australia. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwat. Res. 17: 177–228.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Beadle, L. C., 1981. The inland waters of tropical Africa, second ed., Longman, London & New York, 475 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belay, A. & R. B. Wood, 1982. Limnological aspects of an algal bloom on Lake Chamo in Gomo Goffa Administrative Region of Ethiopia in 1978. Sinet: Ethiop. J. Sci. 5: 1–19.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Biró, K., 1972. Nematodes of Lake Balaton. III. The fauna of late-summer. Ann. Biol. Tihany, 39: 89–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biró, K., 1973. Nematodes of Lake Balaton. IV. Seasonal qualitative and quantitative changes. Ann. Biol. Tihany, 40: 135–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bretchko, G., 1973. Benthos production of a high-mountain lake: Nematoda. Verh. Int. Ver. Limnol. 18: 1421–1428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, G. A., 1955. An ecological study of the microbenthic fauna of two Minnesota lakes. Midl. Nat. 53: 213–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croll, N. A. & A. Zullini, 1972. Observations on the bionomics of the freshwater nematode Chromadorina bioculata. J. Nematol. 4: 256–260.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, A. J. D., 1975. Invertebrates production in Lake Turkana (Rudolf). Symp. on the hydrobiology and fisheries of Lake Turkana (Rudolf), 28 pp.

  • Filipjev, I., 1931. Report on freshwater Nemodata: Mr. Omer-Cooper's investigation of the Abyssinian freshwaters (Hugh Scott's Expedition). Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 2: 429–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folk, R. L., 1980. Petrology of sediments rocks. Hamphill's, Austin, Texas, 182 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamachu, D., 1977. Aspects of climate and water budget in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa University Press, 71 pp.

  • Gasse, F. & F. A. Street, 1978. Late quaternary lake level fluctuations and environments of the northern Rift Valley and Afar region (Ethiopia and Djibouti). Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 24: 279–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, J., 1986. Zooplankton associations in some Ethiopian crater lakes. Freshwat. Biol. 16: 495–499.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grove, A. T., F. Alayne Street & A. S. Goudie. Former lake

  • Hecky, R. E. & P. Kilham, 1973. Diatoms in alkaline, saline lakes: ecology and geochemical implications. Limnol. Oceanogr. 18: 53–71.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holopainen, I. J. & L. Paasivirta, 1977. Abundance and biomass of the meiozoobenthos in the oligotrophic and mesohumic lake Pääjärvi, southern Finland. Ann. Zool. Fenn. 14: 124–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, L. J., 1984. The free-living inland aquatic nematodes of Africa — a review. Hydrobiologia 113: 124–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kibret, T. & A. D. Harrison, (in press). The benthic and reed bed faunas of Lake Awassa in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. Hydrobiologia.

  • Krebs, C. J., 1972. Ecology: the experimental analysis of distribution and abundance. Harper & Row, New York, 694 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaBarbera, M. C. & P. Kilham, 1974. The chemical ecology of copepod distribution in the lakes of East and Central Africa. Limnol. Oceanogr. 19: 459–465.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leveque, C., C. Dejoux & L. Lauzanne, 1983. The benthic fauna: ecology, biomass and communities. In Carmouze, J. P., J.-R., Durand & C. Leveque (eds), Lake Chad Monographiae Biologicae 53. Dr. W. Junk Publishers, The Hague: 233–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowndes, A. G., 1932. Report on the Ostracoda: Mr. Omer-Cooper's investigation of the Abyssinian freshwaters (Dr. Hugh Scott's Expedition). Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond: 677–708.

  • Makin, M. J., T. J. Kingham, A. E. Waddams, C. J. Birchall & T. Teferra, 1975. Development prospects in the southern Rift Valley, Ethiopia. Land Resources Study 21. Land Res. Div., Ministry of Overseas Development, Surrey, England, 270 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLachlan, A. J., 1974. Development of some lake ecosystems in tropical Africa, with special reference to the invertebrates. Biol. Rev. 49: 365–397.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melack, J. M., 1981. Photosynthetic activity of phytoplankton in tropical African soda lakes. Hydrogiologia 81: 71–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesfin, M., C. Tudorancea & R. M. Baxter, 1988. Some limnological observations on two Ethiopian hydroelectric reservoirs: Koka (Shewa Administrative District) and Finchaa (Welega Administrative District). Hydrobiologia 157: 47–57.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moore,J. E.,1952. The Entomostraca of southern Saskatchewan. Can. J. Zool. 30: 410–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nalepa, T. F. & A. Robertson, 1981. Screen mesh size effects estimates of macro and meiobenthos abundance and biomass in the Great Lakes. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38: 1027–1034.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholas, W. L., 1975. The biology of free-living nematodes. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 219 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Por, F. D. & D. Masry, 1968. Survival of a nematode and an oligochaete species in the anaerobic benthal of Lake Tiberias. Oikos, 19: 388–391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prejs, K., 1970. Some problems of the ecology of benthic nematodes (Nematoda) of Mikolajskie Lake. Ekol. Polska, 18: 225–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prejs, K., 1977a. The littoral and profundal benthic nematodes of lakes with different trophy. Ekol. Polska, 25: 21–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prejs, K., 1977b. The species diversity, numbers and biomass of benthic nematodes in central part of lakes with different trophy. Ekol. Polska, 25: 31–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prejs, K., 1977c. The nematodes of the root region of aquatic macrophytes with special consideration of nematode groupings penetrating the tissues of roots and rhizomes. Ekol. Polska, 25: 5–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prejs, K. & B. Bernard, 1985. Meiobenthos of man-made Lake Zegryfiskie. Ekol. Polska, 33: 499–509.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prosser, M. V., R. B. Wood & R. M. Baxter, 1968. The Bishoftu crater lakes: a bathymetric and chemical study. Arch. Hydrobiol. 65: 309–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawson, D. W. & J. E. Moore, 1944. The saline lakes of Saskatchewan. Can. J. Res. Sect. D 22: 141–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiemer, F., 1979. The benthic community of the open lake. In Löftler, H. (ed.) Neusiedlersee: the limnology of a shallow lake in central Europe. Dr. W. Junk Publishers, The Hague: 337–384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanczykowska, A. & M. Pryztocka-Jusiak, 1968. Variations in abundance and biomass of microbenthos in three Mazurian lakes. Ekol. Polska, 16: 539–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephenson, J., 1932. Report on the Oligochaeta: Mr. Omer-Cooper's investigation of the Abyssinian freshwaters (Dr. Hugh Scott's Expedition). Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.: 227–256.

  • Strayer, D., 1985. The benthic micrometazoans of Mirror Lake, New Hampshire. Arch. Hydrobiol./Suppl. 72: 287–426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Talling, J. F. & I. B. Talling, 1965. The chemical composition of African lake waters. Rev. ges. Hydrobiol.: 421–463.

  • Talling, J. F., R. B. Wood, M. V. Prosser & R. M. Baxter, 1973. The upper limit of photosynthetic productivity of phytoplankton: evidence from Ethiopian soda lakes. Freshwat. Biol. 3: 53–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tudorancea, C., R. M. Baxter & C. H. Fernando, (in press). A comparative limnological study of zoobenthic associations in lakes of the Ethopian Rift, Valley. Arch. Hydrobiol.

  • Tudorancea, C. & R. H. Green, 1975. Distribution and seasonal variation of benthic fauna in Lake Manitoba. Verh. Int. Ver. Limnol. 19: 616–623.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tudorancea, C., R. H. Green & J. Huebner, 1979. Structure, dynamics and production of the benthic fauna in Lake Manitoba. Hydrobiologia 64: 59–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tudorancea, C. & A. D. Harrison, 1988. The benthic communities of the saline lakes Abijata and Shala (Ethiopia). Hydrobiologia 158: 117–123.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wasilewska, B. E., 1973. Microfauna of few eulittoral habitats of Mikolajskie Lake with special consideration to the nematodes (Nematoda). Ekol. Polska, 21: 57–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, R. B., R. M. Baxter & M. V. Prosser, 1984. Sesonal and comparative aspects of chemical stratification in some tropical crater lakes, Ethiopia. Freshwater Biol. 14: 551–573.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zullini, A;, 1976. Nematodes as indicators of river pollution. Nematol. medit. 4: 13–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zullini, A., (in press). A new genus and five new species of nematodes from Ethiopian lakes. Rev. de Nematol.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ont., Canada

    Claudiu Tudorancea

  2. Dipartimento di Biologia, Universita degli Studi, Milano, Italy

    Aldo Zullini

Authors
  1. Claudiu Tudorancea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aldo Zullini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tudorancea, C., Zullini, A. Associations and distribution of benthic nematodes in the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes. Hydrobiologia 179, 81–96 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00011932

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00011932

Key words

Search

Navigation