Phytoplankton community relationship to environmental variables in three Kenyan Rift Valley saline-alkaline lakes

Temporal changes in total alkalinity, ionic composition and nutrient concentrations were studied in the saline, alkaline endorheic Kenyan Rift Valley Lakes Bogoria, Nakuru and Elmentaita to understand the association of these variables with phytoplankton community structure. In total, 24 taxa were found, with L. Bogoria having the fewest species. Although the cyanobacterium Arthrospira fusiformis dominated the phytoplankton biomass, especially in L. Bogoria, other groups came into play especially during high water levels in L. Nakuru and L. Elmentaita. Cluster analysis based on species biomass resulted in four groups, characterised by 13 indicator taxa. Most of the variation in these groups appeared to be associated with hydrological stability and perhaps biological factors rather than water chemistry, which only explained 44% of the variance in taxa composition on the first four axes derived from redundancy analysis. Species numbers decreased with elevated conductivity and water temperature. Synechocystis sp. occurrence coincided with phosphorus, water temperature and conductivity increase, whereas the distributions of Arthrospira fusiformis and Arthrospira platensis were mainly influenced by both light attenuation and elevated nitrate concentrations. Increases in silica and ammonium and declines in conductivity, total phosphorus and water temperature enhanced diatom abundances. Not only do the results of the present study indicate the unexpectedly high variability of phytoplankton community composition and water chemistry in these three alkaline tropical lakes, but also the data assist our understanding of the factors influencing flamingo populations on these lakes, which are significant conservation reserves and tourist attractions.