Zooplankton occurrences and abundance in the Lake Albert system, Uganda

Vincent Kiggundu 1, Robert Egessa 1, Lucas  Mwebaza-Ndawula1, Laban Musinguzi2

1 National Fisheries Resources Research Institue , Nile Crescent, Plot 39/45, Jinja Opposite the wagon ferry terminal, 343, Jinja, Uganda; 2 National Fisheries Resources Rsearch Institute , Jinja, Uganda

Corresponding author(s): Vincent Kiggundu Robert Egessa Lucas  Mwebaza-Ndawula

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Kiggundu V, Egessa R, Mwebaza-Ndawula L (2022): Zooplankton occurrences and abundance in the Lake Albert system, Uganda. v1.0. National Fisheries Resources Research Institute. Dataset/Occurrence. http://ipt-uganda.gbif.fr/resource?r=albert_zooplankton&v=1.0

Abstract

The dataset presents occurrences and abundance of zooplankton taxa obtained from different surveys conducted between 2002 and 2020. The surveys were conducted in different water bodies and habitat types within the Lake Albert system. The water bodies include Lake Edward, associated lagoons and rivers. 

Keywords: Occurrence, Uganda, Zooplankton, Lake Albert

Project details

Project title: Zooplankton occurrences and abundance in the Lake Albertine system
Personnel: Vincent Kiggundu 
Funding: Data collection was funded by the World Bank through the Agricultural Technology and Agribusiness Advisory Services (AATAS), Agricultural Research and Training Project (ARTP II) projects. More funding was from the Lake Albert and Edward Fisheries II (LAEF) project.
Study area descriptions/descriptor: This work was part of research and monitoring studies conducted in predetermined localities on water bodies within the Lake Albert system. The area covered Lake Albert and Luzira lagoon while rivers covered were Nkusi, Waki, Muzizi, and Wambabya. 
Design description: The lake and rivers represent wide portion of Lake Edward system, investigated from 2002 to 2020.  The study areas represent multiple habitats based on the depth profile, distances from shoreline covering both lentic and lotic habitats.

Data published through GBIF: http://ipt-uganda.gbif.fr/resource?r=albert_zooplankton

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: The taxa include three broad groups of zooplankton: Copepoda, Cladocera and Rotifera  
Taxonomic ranks
Class: Hexanauplia
Family: Calanoidae, Cyclopoidae
Genus: Alona, Ascomorpha, Asplanchna, Chydorus, Euclanis, Eucyclops, Hexathra, Macrothrix, Mesocyclops, Simocephalus, Synchaeta
Species: Brachionus angularis, Brachionus bidentata, Brachionus budapestinensis, Brachionus calyciflorus, Brachionus falcatus, Brachionus patulus, Brachionus quadridentatus, Ceriodaphnia cornuta, Ceriodaphnia dubia, Daphnia barbata, Daphnia longispina, Daphnia lumholtzi, Diaphanosoma excisum, Filinia longiseta, Filinia opoliensis, Keratella cochlearis, Keratella tropica, Lecane bulla, Lecane signifera, Moina micrura, Platyias quadricornis, Polyarthra vulgaris, Synchaeta pectinata, Testudinella parva, Thermocyclops incisus, Thermocyclops neglectus, Thermodiaptomus galeboides, Trichocerca cylindrica, Tropocyclops confinnis, Tropocyclops tenellus

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: This work was part of research and monitoring studies done in predetermined localities of Lake Albert, Luzira lagoon, and river mouths of Rivers Nkusi, Waki, Muzizi, and Wambabya. 
Coordinates: 0°55'22.12''N and 2°30'14.71''N Latitude; 30°14'43.3''E and 31°34'28.95''E Longitude 

Formation period: 2002-2020

Methods

Method step description: Collection of the zooplankton
A conical plankton net (Nansen type; mesh size 60 µm; mouth diameter 0.25 m) was used to collect the zooplankton. It was towed vertically through the water column to have an integrated sample. Three hauls were taken per site and were combined to make a composite sample. 

Preserving the samples
Samples were preserved in a sugar-formalin mixture.  The sugar was to stop the ballooning of cladocerans for easy identification. 

Identification of zooplankton taxa
In the laboratory, samples were washed using a sieve of 53 µm to remove the fixatives. Organisms were identified to the smallest taxonomic level possible using taxonomic keys (Sars, 1895, Pennak, 1953, Brooks, 1957, Rutner-Kolisko, 1974, Koste, 1978, Boxshall and Braide, 1991, Korinek, 1999). Density of organisms were calculated from the counts data, with reference to the sample net mouth diameter and water column depth at each sampling site.

Study extent description: The water bodies covered were sampled within 2002 to 2020. However, sampling was not consistent for the water bodies over that period. Data is available for specified water bodies for a periods; 2002, 2007, 2013-14, 2016 and 2020. 
Sampling description: Zooplankton samples were collected with a conical plankton net (Nansen type; mesh size 60 µm and mouth diameter of 0.25 m), towed vertically through the water column, as described by Fernando (2002) and Mwebaza-Ndawula (1994). Three hauls were taken and combined to make composite samples, preserved in 5% formalin and transferred to laboratory for taxonomic analysis and generation of abundance. In the laboratory, each sample was washed with tap water over a 53 µm sieve to remove the preservative and then diluted to a suitable volume, depending on the concentration of organisms in each sample. Sub-samples of 2, 2, 5 and 10 mL were taken with a wide bore automatic pipette from a well agitated sample. The sub-sample series were performed to consider the more abundant organisms in 2, 2 mL series, and the rarer organisms in 2, 2, 5, 10 mL series. Each sub-sample was put into a counting chamber and examined under inverted microscope (Hund, Wetzlar, Germany) at X100 magnification for taxonomic determination, and X40 for counting and organism body measurements. 
Quality control description: Some zooplankton were able to be identified to species level using published taxonomic keys (Sars 1895; Pennak 1953; Brooks 1957; Rutner-Kolisko 1974; Koste 1978; Boxshall & Braide 1991; Korinek 1999). Taxonomic names were cross-checked using the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Volume densities of organisms were calculated from the counts data, with reference to the sample net mouth diameter and water column depth at each sampling site as per Fernando (2002). 

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Zooplankton occurrences and abundance in the Lake Albert system, Uganda
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: http://ipt-uganda.gbif.fr/archive.do?r=albert_zooplankton
Publication date of data: 2022-06-09
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2022-06-09
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Boxshall, G. A. & Braide, E. I. 1991. The freshwater cyclopoid copepods of Nigeria, with an illustrated key to all species. Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (zool), 57, 185-212.
Brooks, J. L. 1957. The systematics of North American Daphnia. Memoirs of the connecticut academy of Arts and Sciences, 13, 1-18.
Fernando, C. H. 2002. A Guide to Tropical Freshwater Zooplankton. Identification, Ecology and Impact on Fisheries, Leiden, The Netherlands, Backhuys Publishers.
Korinek, V. 1999. A guide to limnetic species of Cladocera of African inland waters (Crustacea, Branchiopoda). The International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology. SIL.
Koste, W. 1978. Rotatoria. Die Radertiere Mitteleuropas. Ein Bestimmungwerk, begrundet vo Max Voig. Uberrordnung Monogononta. Gebruder Borntraeger, Berlin, Stuttgart.
Pennak, R. W. 1953. Fresh-water invertebrates of the United States, New York, John Wiley & Sons.
Rutner-Kolisko, A. 1974. Planktonic rotifers: Biology and taxonomy, Biological Station Lunz of the Austrian Academy of Science. E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
Sars, G. O. 1895. An account of the Crustacea of Norway, Christiania and Copenhagen Alb. Cammermeyer Forlag