Ecological studies on crater lakes in West Cameroon Zooplankton of Barombi Mbo, Mboandong, Lake Kotto and Lake Soden

• Published in: Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Green, J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1972
• Subjects: Mira; Copepods; Rotifer
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1972.tb03099.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1469-7998.1972.tb03099.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1972.tb03099.x; https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1972.tb03099.x

The zooplankton of four crater lakes in North‐west Cameroon has been studied by means of vertical hauls from the bottom to the surface. Two of the lakes are deep, with sparse phytoplankton, while the other two are shallow with dense blooms of blue‐green algae. All the lakes are without planktonic Cladocera. In Lake Kotto, Mboandong and Barombi Mbo the dominant zooplankter is Mesocyclops (Thermocyclops) hyalinus , which is replaced in Lake Soden by Mesocyclops leuckarti. Larvae of Chaoborus are present in all the lakes. In the two deep lakes, Soden and Barombi Mbo, the dominant rotifer is Polyarthra dolichoptera , but in the two shallow lakes, Kotto and Mboandong, three species, Hexarthra mira, Brachionus fakatus and B. caudatus , make up the bulk of the rotifers. In Barombi Mbo during the daytime most of the zooplankton was in the top 20 m, but most of the Chaoborus larvae were below 20m. The standing crops of zooplankton in these lakes are low compared with those of lakes in the Kigezi District of Uganda. The most remarkable feature of the zooplankton in these lakes is the occurrence of dwarfed forms. Both species of cyclopoid copepods and the eight identifiable species of Rotifera are smaller here than in most other localities. Factors which may be associated with this dwarfing are low latitude with constant high temperature, low phytoplankton availability, and the low ratio of drainage area to lake area.