Inland Waters of Southern Africa: An Ecological PerspectiveLimnology - the study of inland waters - had its genesis in Europe about the turn of the century. The studies of Fore1 on Lake Geneva were of seminal value at this time. It prospered under the early guidance of Thienemann, Naumann and Wesenberg-Lund in Europe and, soon transplanted, of Birge and Juday in North America (to name just a few early spirits). Now, liminology is a respectable scientific discipline taught at many universities, and limnologists are recognized as important contributors to our understanding of how this fragile spaceship functions. All this acknowledged, it must also be acknowledged that limnology is not yet a globally comprehensive science. To be sure, much is known about globally applicable processes, and the structural elements of aquatic ecosystems worldwide, but limnological emphases, interests and concerns remain essentially European and North American in balance. Much is known about lakes and rivers in less than one fifth of the world's land area (northern temperature regions); rather little is known about inland waters elsewhere. |
Contents
1 Introduction | 3 |
2 The geomorphology of southern Africa | 9 |
3 The climate | 21 |
4 The regional limnology of southern Africa | 27 |
42 The surface waters of the elevated plateau and the southeastern coastal plain Region 2 | 36 |
43 The surface waters of the Australomontane Alpine region Region 3 | 47 |
44 The temperate acid waters of the Cape Fold montane region Region 4 | 51 |
45 The waters of the arid Karroid west inland from Port Elizabeth into Namibia and southern Botswana Region 5 | 55 |
Natural and manmade lakes | 165 |
10 Suspensoids hydrodynamics and chemical conditions in natural and manmade lakes | 167 |
101 Pigments suspensoids and light | 168 |
102 Hydrodynamics | 172 |
103 The chemical properties of natural and manmade lakes | 195 |
11 Primary producers and their production in lakes and reservoirs | 221 |
112 Inorganically turbid reservoirs | 235 |
113 Biogenically turbid reservoirs | 258 |
The rivers and their catchments floodplains and wetlands | 63 |
5 Types of rivers and their characteristics | 65 |
52 River classification | 71 |
6 Unique rivers | 83 |
62 The Okavango River | 90 |
63 The Orange River | 93 |
7 A review of river research in southern Africa since 1900 | 97 |
71 River zonation and factors determining faunal changes | 99 |
72 The effects of pollution | 108 |
73 Major conclusions from hydrobiological studies | 116 |
74 Modern concepts of river ecosystem functioning | 121 |
8 Riverine wetlands | 131 |
81 The Okavango Delta | 133 |
82 The Pongolo River and its floodplain Kwazulu | 145 |
9 The influence of man | 151 |
92 River regulation | 155 |
93 Water abstraction | 157 |
94 The conservation of rivers in southern Africa | 161 |
114 Aquatic macrophytcs in reservoirs | 278 |
12 Bacteria and their activity in lakes and reservoirs | 285 |
122 Reservoirs | 291 |
13 Planktonic and benthic invertebrates | 309 |
132 Spatial distribution of invertebrates | 322 |
133 Temporal dynamics standing stocks and production | 336 |
134 Trophic interactions and related issues | 359 |
14 Fish and fisheries | 375 |
142 Fish colonization of manmade lakes | 376 |
143 Novel investigations of the biology of southern African fish under lacustrine conditions | 380 |
144 Fisheries | 384 |
Synthesis and implications | 387 |
References | 399 |
| 437 | |
| 444 | |
| 451 | |
Other editions - View all
Inland Waters of Southern Africa: An Ecological Perspective B.R. Allanson,R.C. Hart,J.H. O'Keeffe,R.D. Robarts No preview available - 2011 |
Inland Waters of Southern Africa: An Ecological Perspective B.R. Allanson,R.C. Hart,J.H. O'Keeffe,R.D. Robarts No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
Akhurst algal Allanson annual aquatic attenuation bacterial numbers benthic biomass Cahora Bassa Cape catchment changes Chironomidae chlorophyll chlorophyll a concentration coastal lakes copepods correlated Daphnia delta density depth diatoms dominant ecological effect epilimnion euphotic zone fish flood floodplain flow freshwater Grobbelaar habitat Hart Hartbeespoort Dam heterotrophic Howard-Williams impoundment increase inflow invertebrate Lake Kariba Lake le Roux Lake McIlwaine Lake Midmar Lake Sibaya limnological littoral macrophytes man-made lakes Microcystis Natal nitrogen nutrient Okavango Okavango Delta Okavango River Orange River pans phosphorus phytoplankton phytoplankton production plankton pollution Pongolo population predation rainfall rates region reservoirs result Robarts & Sephton Robarts & Zohary runoff samples seasonal sediments South Africa southern Africa species standing stocks Stegmann stratification streams studies subcontinent subregion summer suspensoids Swartvlei Table Toerien trophic turbid Vaal River variation vertical Vmax water column water temperature wetlands winter Wuras Dam Zambezi zooplankton
Popular passages
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Page 424 - Ccrcarial shedding patterns of various schistosome species under outdoor conditions in the Transvaal.
Page 406 - Hydrobiological studies in the catchment of Vaal Dam, South Africa. Part 3. Notes on the Cladocera and Copepoda of stones-in-current, marginal vegetation and stony backwater biotopes.
Page 413 - Zooplankton abundance, community structure and dynamics in relation to inorganic turbidity, and their implications for a potential fishery in subtropical Lake le Roux, South Africa.
Page 404 - Brown, DS. 1967. A review of the freshwater mollusca of Natal and their distribution.
Page 401 - Coche, editors. 1974. Lake Kariba: a man-made tropical ecosystem in central Africa. Dr. W. Junk, The Hague.