Affiliation: | aLaboratory of General Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Yaounde I, P.O. Box. 812, Yaounde, Cameroon bHydrological Research Centre, Institute for Geological and Mining Research, P.O. Box 4110, Nlongkak, Yaounde, Cameroon cLudwig-Brill Strasse 5, 49610 Quakenbrück, Germany dLaboratoire de Dynamique de la Biodiversité, Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III), UMR CNRS-UPS 5172, 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, BP 4349, 31055 Toulouse, France eQueensland Museum, Worms Section, South Brisbane, QLD 4101, Australia |
Abstract: | ![]() Studies on the biodiversity and population dynamics of freshwater planktonic Gastrotricha have been carried out in conjunction with a physical–chemical analysis of the water in the Yaounde Municipal Lake (Cameroon, Central Africa) over a 14 months period (November 1996–December 1997). The results obtained allow to consider the Yaounde Municipal Lake as an eutrophic lake. It harbours eight species of Gastrotricha belonging to four genera (Chaetonotus, Dasydytes, Neogossea and Polymerurus) of the order Chaetonotida. This community was characterized by high abundances of populations, and was dominated by the genus Neogossea and Chaetonotusreaching up to 2000 ind. L−1. Polymerurus was mostly abundant at the almost anoxic bottom layers. The highest abundances were found mostly during the rainy season, when there is an important sedimentation process of organic matter, and were influenced by several different environmental factors such as dissolved oxygen, temperature and pH of the water.Finally this community which may play an important role in the water bodies, is a potential water quality indicator. |