Lake Chilwa

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

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2. The environmental setting

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Introduction: Perspectives of research at Lake Chilwa

      • Margaret Kalk

      Pages 3-16

   3. The physical environment of Lake Chilwa

      • N. Lancaster

      Pages 17-40

   4. The changes in the lake level

      • N. Lancaster

      Pages 41-58

   5. The aquatic environment: I. Chemical and physical characteristics of Lake Chilwa

      • A. J. McLachlan

      Pages 59-78

   6. The aquatic environment: II. Chemical and physical characteristics of the Lake Chilwa swamps

      • C. Howard-Williams

      Pages 79-90

3. The response of plants and animals to changes

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 91-91

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   2. Algae in Lake Chilwa and the waters of its catchment area

      • Brian Moss

      Pages 93-103

   3. The distribution of aquatic macrophytes in Lake Chilwa: Annual and long-term environmental fluctuations

      • C. Howard-Williams

      Pages 105-122

   4. Zooplankton in Lake Chilwa: adaptations to changes

      • M. Kalk

      Pages 123-141

   5. Decline and recovery of the benthic invertebrate communities

      • A. J. McLachlan

      Pages 143-160

   6. Invertebrate communities in the Lake Chilwa swamp in years of high level

      • M. A. Cantrell

      Pages 161-173

   7. Fishes: Distribution and biology in relation to changes

      • M. T. Furse, R. C. Kirk, P. R. Morgan, D. Tweddle

      Pages 175-208

   8. The fisheries of Lake Chilwa

      • M. T. Furse, P. R. Morgan, M. Kalk

      Pages 209-229

   9. Interactions between swamp and lake

      • Clive Howard-Williams

      Pages 231-245

   10. Amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds of Chilwa

       • C. O. Dudley, D. E. Stead, G. G. M. Schulten

       Pages 247-273

   11. Insects of the floodplain

       • H. R. Feijen, H. D. Brown, C. O. Dudley

       Pages 275-291

4. The people of the Chilwa area

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 293-293

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   2. The influence of history on Lake Chilwa and its people

      • B. Pachai

      Pages 295-308

Leonard C. Beadle In contrast to the more sta bie oceans, inland waters are, on the geological time scale, short-lived and are subject to great fluctuations in chemical composition and physical features. Very few lakes and rivers have existed continuously for more than a million years, and the life of the majority is to be measured in thousands or less. Earth movements, erosion and long-term climatic changes in the past have caused many of them to appear and disappear. No wonder then that most freshwater organism are especially adapted to great changes and many even to temporary extinction of their environment. Recent studies of residual sediments from existing and extinct lakes in tropical Africa have told us much about their age and the past history of their faunas and floras, from which we may deduce something about the climate and the conditions in the water in the past. The forces that have formed and moulded the African Great Lakes have been catastrophic in their violence and effects. They are not yet finished, but the present rate of change is, in human terms, too slow for direct observation of the ecological effects. The large man-made lakes are providing very good opportunities for studying the chemi­ cal and biological consequences of the initial filling but, once filled, they are artificially protected against major fluctuations.

• algae
• benthic
• catchment area
• ecosystem
• fisheries
• macrophytes
• zooplankton

• University of Malawi c/o Zoology Department, University of the Witwaterstand, Johannesburg, South Africa

  Margaret Kalk

• Department of Zoology, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle, England

  A. J. McLachlan

• Institute of Freshwater Studies, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

  C. Howard-Williams

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