The fate of organic matter in a papyrus (Cyperus papyrus L.) dominated tropical wetland ecosystem in Nyanza Gulf (Lake Victoria, Kenya) inferred from δ13C and δ15N analysis

Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies

Volumn 41, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 379-390

  Gichuki, John W ^a,b   Triest, Ludwig ^b   Dehairs, Frank ^b  

^a KENYA MARINE AND FISHERIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE   (Kenya)

^b VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL   (Belgium)

Author keywords

Carbon fluxus; Carbon 13; Kenya; Lake Victoria; Natural isotope variations; Nitrogen 15; Organic matter; Papyrus; Sink; Stable isotopes; Swamp habitats; Wetlands

Indexed keywords

CARBON; FRESH WATER; NITROGEN;

ENVIRONMENTAL FATE; ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS; ORGANIC MATTER; SEDIMENT CORE; WETLAND;

ARTICLE; CHEMISTRY; CYPERUS; ECOSYSTEM; KENYA; SEDIMENT; TROPIC CLIMATE;

CARBON ISOTOPES; CYPERUS; ECOSYSTEM; FRESH WATER; GEOLOGIC SEDIMENTS; KENYA; NITROGEN ISOTOPES; TROPICAL CLIMATE;

AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; KENYA; NYANZA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

CYPERUS; CYPERUS PAPYRUS;

EID: 30644470968     PISSN: 10256016     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10256010500384739     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Beadle, L.(1974) The Inland Waters of Tropical Africa. London: Longmans.
2. Rzoska, J. (1974) The upper Nile swamps, a tropical wetland study Freshwater Biol., 4, pp. 1 - 30.
3. Thompson, K. and Shewry, P. and Woolhouse, H. (1979) Papyrus swamp development in the Upemba Basin, Zaire: Studies of population structure in Cyperus papyrus stands Bot. J. Linn. Soc., 78, pp. 299 - 316.
4. Gaudet, J. (1976) Nutrient relationship in the detritus of a tropical swamp Arch. Hydrobiol., 78, pp. 213 - 239.
5. Gaudet, J. (1977) Uptake, accumulation and loss of nutrients by papyrus in tropical swamps Ecology, 58, pp. 415 - 442.
6. Gaudet, J. (1978) Effects of tropical swamp on water quality Verhalungen International Vereingung Limnology, 20, pp. 2202 - 2206.
7. Gichuki, J. and Triest, L. and Dehairs, F. (2001) The use of stable carbon isotopes as tracers of ecosystem functioning in contrasting wetland ecosystems of Lake Victoria, Kenya Hydrobiologia, 458, pp. 91 - 97.
8. Mitsch, W. and Gosselink, J.(1993) Wetlands, 2nd edn. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
9. Denny, P. (1984) Permanent swamp vegetation of the upper Nile Hydrobiologia, 110, pp. 79 - 90.
10. Williams, C. and Lenton, G. (1975) The role of the littoral zone in the functioning of a shallow tropical lake ecosystem Freshwater Biol., 5, pp. 445 - 459.
11. Thompson, K.(1976) Swamp development in the headwaters of the White Nile. In The Nile, Biology of an Ancient River. (pp. 177 - 196). The Hague: Dr W. Junk Publishers.
12. Jones, M.(1986) Wetlands. In Photosynthesis in Contrasting Environments. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Tropics in Photosynthesis
13. Cifuentes, L. and Coffin, A. and Solorzano, R. and Cardenas, W. and Espinoza, J. and Twilley, R. (1996) Isotopic and elemental variations of carbon and nitrogen in a mangrove estuary Estuar. Coast. Shelf S., 43, pp. 781 - 800.
14. Ehleringer, J. and Rundel, P.(1989) Stable isotopes in ecological research. In Ecological Studies. (pp. 1 - 5). New York, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.
15. Ziegler, H. (1995) Stable isotopes in plant physiology and ecology Prog. Bot., 56, pp. 1 - 24.
16. Peterson, B. and Fry, B. (1987) Stable isotopes in ecosystem studies Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 18, pp. 293 - 320.
17. Lajtha, K. and Marshal, J.(1994) Sources of variation in the stable isotopic composition of plants. In Stable Isotopes in Ecology and Environmental Science. (pp. 1 - 21). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publishers.
18. 15N in a subarctic lake: Biogeochemical implications to nitrogen cycling. PhD thesis, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
19. Verschuren, D. (1993) A lightweight extruder for accurate sectioning of soft bottom lake sediment core in the field Limnol. Oceanogr., 38, pp. 1796 - 1802.
20. Bunn, S. and Loneragan, N. and Kempster, M. (1995) Effects of acid washing samples on stable isotope ratios of C and N in Penaeid shrimps and Seagrass: Implications for food web studies using stable isotopes Limnol. Oceanogr., 40, pp. 622 - 625.
21. APHA.(1995) Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 19th edn. Washington D.C: American Public Health Association.
22. Gaudet, J. (1979) Seasonal changes in nutrients in tropical swamp water J. Ecol., 67, pp. 953 - 981.
23. Carter, G.(1955) The papyrus swamps of Uganda. Cambridge: Hoffer and Sons.
24. Kansiime, F. and Nalubega, M. (1999) Waste water treatment by a natural wetland: The Nakivubo Pwamp, Uganda: processes and implications. PhD thesis, 300, Agriculture University, Wageningen
25. Visser, S. (1962) Chemical investigations into a system of lakes, rivers and swamps in S.W. Kigezi, Uganda, East Africa Agric. For. J., 28, pp. 81 - 86.
26. Twilley, R. and Lugo, A. and Zucca, C. (1986) Litter production and turn over in Basin Mangrove forests in Southwest Florida Ecology, 67(3), pp. 670 - 683.
27. Griffiths, H.(1993) Carbon isotope discrimination. In Photosynthesis and Production in a Changing Environment, a Field and Laboratory Manual. (pp. 181 - 192). Manual, D. Hall, O. Scurlock, J.M.O. Bolhar-Norden, H.R. Kampf, R.C. Leregood and S.P. Long (Eds), London: Chapman and Hall.
28. Humphreys, S. and Long, S. (1995) WIMOVAC: A software package for modeling the dynamics of plant leaf and canopy photosynthesis Cabios, 11, pp. 361 - 371.
29. Guy, R. and Fogel, M. and Berry, J. (1993) Photosynthesis fractionation of the stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon Plant Physiol., 101, pp. 37 - 47.
30. Bouillon, S. and Koedam, N. and Raman, A. and Dehairs, F. (2002) Primary producers sustaining macro-invertebrate communities in intertidal mangrove forests Oecologia, 130, pp. 441 - 448.
31. Haines, E.(1977) Interactions between Georgia salt marshes and coastal waters: A changing paradigm. In Ecological Processes in Coastal Marine Systems. (pp. 35 - 47). New York: Plenum Press.
32. Haines, E. (1977) The origins of the detritus in Georgia salt marsh estuaries Oikos, 29, pp. 254 - 260.
33. 12C ratios Ecology, 60, pp. 48 - 56.
34. Post, W. and Emmanuel, W. and Zinke, P. and Stangenberger, A. (1982) Soil carbon pools and world life zones Nature, 298, pp. 156 - 159.
35. Page, S. and Siegert, F. and Rieley, J. and Boehm, H. and Jaya, A. and Limin, S. (2002) The amount of carbon released from peat and forest fires in Indonesia during 1997 Nature, 420, pp. 61 - 65.
36. Finlayson, M. and Moser, M.(1991) Wetlands. Slimbridge Gloucester: International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau.
37. de la Cruz, A. (1986) Tropical wetlands as carbon sources Aquat. Bot., 25, pp. 109 - 115.
38. Fry, B. and Bern, A. and Ross, M. and Meeder, J. (2000) Nitrogen fixation leads to values near in marine planktonic systems Estuar. Coast. Shelf S., 50, pp. 291 - 296.
39. 15N abundances Aust. J. Plant Physiol., 13, pp. 699 - 757.
40. Mwaura, F. (1981) Nitrogen fixation in papyrus swamps of L. Naivasha. MSc thesis, University of Nairobi
41. Hardy, R. and Burns, R. and Holsten, R. (1973) Application of the acetylene ethyl assay for the measurement of nitrogen fixation Soil Biol. Biochem., 5, pp. 47 - 81.
42. Mwaura, F. and Widdowson, D. (1992) Nitrogenase activity in the papyrus swamps of Lake Naivasha, Kenya Hydrobiologia, 232, pp. 23 - 30.
43. 15N natural abundance in soil plant systems New Phytology, 137, pp. 179 - 203.
44. Velthof, G. and van Groenigen, J. and Gebauer, G. and Pierzak, S. and Jarvis, S. and Pinto, M. and Corre, W. and Oenema, O. (2000) Temporal stability of spatial patterns of nitrous oxide fluxes from sloping grassland J. Environ. Qual., 29, pp. 1397 - 1407.
45. 15N analysis Mar. Ecol.-Prog. Ser., 128, pp. 1 - 10.
46. France, R. (1995) Differentiation between littoral and pelagic foodwebs in lakes using stable carbon isotopes Limnol. Oceanogr., 40, pp. 1310 - 1313.
47. Heaton, T. (1986) Isotopic studies of nitrogen pollution of the hydrosphere and atmosphere: A review Chem. Geol. (Isotope Geoscience Sector), 59, pp. 87 - 102.
48. Macko, S. and Ostrom, N.(1994) Pollution studies using stable isotopes. In Stable Isotopes in Ecology and Environmental Science. (pp. 45 - 62). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publishers.
49. Fry, B. (1991) Stable isotope diagrams of freshwater food webs Ecology, 72, pp. 2293 - 2297.
50. Kreitler, C. and Jones, D. (1975) Natural soil nitrate: The cause of the nitrate contamination of ground water in Runnels County, Texas Groundwater, 13, pp. 53 - 61.