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The water column of Lake Kyaninga is permanently stratified (meromictic) below 100 m depth. Above this depth, mixing frequency varies from daily (down to 8-12 m depth) over at least once per year (down to 39-47 m depth), to once in several years or decades (between 39-47 and ca. 100 m depth).Nutrient and chlorophyll concentrations as well as phytoplankton data classify the lake as low in aquatic productivity (oligotrophic). Its pelagic, open-water phytoplankton community is dominated by Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) and Chlorophyta (green algae). Bacillariophyta (diatoms) contribute only a minor part of total phytoplankton biomass in both wet and dry seasons, and are characterized by an assemblage of small Nitzschia species. Epiphytic and epipelic diatoms are relatively few, because steep rocky crater slopes limit the littoral zone even though water-column transparency is hugh. The composition of recently deposited diatom assemblages preserved in offshore surface sediments gives a good, annually integrated representation of the present-day pelagic diatom community. The documented species richness of the diatom flora of Lake Kyaninga is moderate with about 150 taxa. Only ca. 17% of these are biogeographically restricted to tropical Africa; and most of these belong to the genus Nitzschia.

BR Staff Publications [a] (paper in international, peer reviewed journal)