Physical and chemical characteristics of major aquatic ecosystems in the Victoria and Kyoga lake basins
2000
Magezi, Godfrey
The physical-chemical characteristics of any aquatic ecosystem include pH, conductivity, and temperature, water transparency, nutrient and the chlorophyll-a levels. Physical and chemical factors of any ecosystem determine the type and quality of flora present in it and these forms the basis on which the system operates. The elements required in largest amounts for plant productions are carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, and silicon, which is important for diatoms as a major component of the cell wall. Nutrients may limit algal productivity in the tropics despite the high temperature there allowing rapid nutrient recycling. Nutrients most likely to be limiting African lakes are nitrogen (Tailing & Tailing 1965; Moss 1969; Lehman & Branstrator 1993, 1994) and phosphorus (Melack et al 1982; Kalff 1983) while silicon may limit diatom growth (Hecky & Kilham 1988).
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