We investigated the feeding behaviour of the dominant microzooplankton of saline lakes in the East African Rift Valley. A set of grazing experiments revealed high ingestion rates of the two euryhaline rotifers Brachionus dimidiatus and Brachionus plicatilis and of the large-sized omnivorous ciliates Frontonia sp. and Condylostoma magnum reflecting the unique nature of tropical saline systems. The size spectrum of ingested particles was broad and even included filamentous cyanobacteria such as the commonly dominating Arthrospira fusiformis. Feeding selectivity on cyanobacteria, however, was rather low showing higher values for cryptomonads and small ciliates. Bacterial biomass was favoured by the presence of grazers, as small bacterivorous predators were reduced at an average of 13.9%, showing the cascading effect of large zooplankton on the food web structure. Overall, based on this first-time study of the microzooplankton feeding behaviour in East African soda lakes, a strong structuring effect of rotifers and large ciliates on microbial plankton communities is assumed, especially in times of high consumer biomass.

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1. The analysis of functional groups with a resolution to the individual species level is a basic requirement to better understand complex interactions in aquatic food webs. Species-specific stable isotope analyses are currently applied to analyse the trophic role of large zooplankton or fish species, but technical constraints complicate their application to smaller-sized plankton.2. We investigated rotifer food assimilation during a short-term microzooplankton bloom in the East African soda lake Nakuru by developing a method for species-specific sampling of rotifers.3. The two dominant rotifers, Brachionus plicatilis and Brachionus dimidiatus, were separated to single-species samples (purity >95%) and significantly differed in their isotopic values (4.1‰ in δ13C and 1.5‰ in δ15N). Bayesian mixing models indicated that isotopic differences were caused by different assimilation of filamentous cyanobacteria and particles <2 μm and underlined the importance of species-specific sampling of smaller plankton compartments.4. A main difference was that the filamentous cyanobacterium Arthrospira fusiformis, which frequently forms blooms in African soda lakes, was an important food source for the larger-sized B. plicatilis (48%), whereas it was hardly ingested by B. dimidiatus. Overall, A. fusiformis was, relative to its biomass, assimilated to small extents, demonstrating a high grazing resistance of this species.5. In combination with high population densities, these results demonstrate a strong potential of rotifer blooms to shape phytoplankton communities and are the first in situ demonstration of a quantitatively important direct trophic link between rotifers and filamentous cyanobacteria.

An investigation of gill monogeneans from the Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus and the blue spotted tilapia Oreochromis leucostictus (50 individuals per species) was done between the months of November 2014 to February 2015 in Lake Naivasha, Kenya. Standard parasitological procedures were used to examine fish gills for the presence of monogeneans. The observed monogeneans were collected, preliminarily identified using identification keys, quantified and fixed in 4 % formalin for morphological studies and absolute ethanol for molecular studies. Four parasite species comprising of three species of the genus Cichlidogyrus and one species of the genus Scutogyrus were recovered. Cichlidogyrus sclerosus and Cichlidogyrus tilapiae infested both fish species but the C. sclerosus was most prevalent in O. leucostictus (Prevalence (P) = 100 %, Mean intensity (MI) = 3.4) and C. tilapiae in O. niloticus (P = 8 %, MI = 4). Cichlidogyrus tilapiae had a P = 12 % and MI = 5.0 and a P = 6 % and MI = 3.0 in O. niloticus and O. leucostictus, respectively. Cichlidogyrus halli (P = 4 %, MI = 15.5) and Scutogyrus gravivaginus (P = 2 %, MI = 1.0) were only found in O. leucostictus. This is the first time that these monogeneans have been identified from Lake Naivasha, Kenya, presenting new geographical records. It was concluded that Ancyrocephalids (Cichilidogyrus spp.) dominated the two cichlid fish species in Lake Naivasha, Kenya.

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