Nutrient status and thermal stratification in Lake Victoria

Abstract

Worldwide, human activity in the watershed has beenfound to induce lake responses at various levels, includingat population and ecosystem scale. Recently, Carignanand Steedman (2000) reported on disruptions ofbiogeochemical cycles in temperate lakes followingwatershed deforestation and lor wildfire and Carignanet al., (2000 a, b) concluded that water quality and aquaticbiota are strongly influenced by disturbances in thewatershed. Similarly, Lake Victoria is no exception aspeople in its catchment have exploited it for the last hundred years or more, but have now begun to understand the extent to which they have thrown the lake into disorder and how their increasing activity in the watershed have driven some environmental changes within and around the lake.