The Kyoga Catchment

Abstract

Lake Kyoga is a complex, shallow lake, which breaks into satellite lakes in the east. The eastern end receives inflows from Mount Elgon and the northern province of Karamoja. The main inflow to the western part of the lake comes from Lake Victoria. The outflow falls over 400 m before joining the outflow from Lake Albert. The vegetation is complex, with a fringe of papyrus, which also occurs as floating islands, and extensive areas of water lilies (Nymphaea). Since 1988 The Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia) has invaded the lake and influenced the distribution of some of the submerged plants. The water chemistry and phytoplankton vary along a gradient from east to west, with high conductivity and domination by Cyanobacteria in the east, and lower conductivity and domination by Melosira in the west. The zooplankton is dominated by cyclopoid copepods, although two species of diaptomids are also present. Cladocera occur in much smaller numbers, with Moina micrura the most frequent. Snail hosts of Schistosoma are present in the lake, and transmit disease to man and cattle. The precise number of fish species in Lake Kyoga is not known, but some of the satellite lakes have at least 60 species of haplochromines, as well as members of other families. The satellites are important because some have not yet been invaded by the Nile Perch, so that they can serve as conservation areas for endemic species.