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Books

The Limnological, Climatology and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes

Edited by Thomas C. Johnson and Eric O. Odada
with the assistance of Katherine T. Whittaker

IDEAL, the International Decade for East African Lakes, is a ten-year mulit-national, multi-disciplinary investigation of the biological, geological, chemical, and phyisical limnology of the East African Lakes, taking into special account the Great Lakes of the East African Rift Valley and the climatology and paleoclimatology of the Rift Valley itself. The selected papers in this book serve as basedline knowledge for this intensive examination, with most of the contributong authors already actively researching these lakes. The oldest in the world and the largest on the continent, the lakes are vital resourcesfor the indigenous populations of their basins. They are unique not only in their diverse populations of endemic species of fish and invertrabrates, but in their sensitivity to climatic change, unusual circulation dynamics and water-column chemistry in relation to higher altitudes, and continuous record of climatic change in tropical Africa. This volume provides an overview of our current knowledge of the lakes combined with the most recent results of specific research efforts by African, American, and European investigators. Included also are some discussions on the impact of man, as well as comprehensive bibliographies.

About the editors
Thomas C. Johnson is director of the Large Lakes Observatory at the University pf Minnesota in Duluth. In 1975 he obtained his Ph.D. in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD in LaJolla, California. DR.johnson has authored and coauthored more than 62publication. He is the originator and present of director of IDEAL

Eric O. Odada is a professor of geology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He received his Ph.D. in applied marine geochemistry in 1986 form Imperial College, London University. Dr. Odada is curretly scietific liaison in Africa for the Past Global Changes (PAGES) Core Project, a part of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). He is scientific coordinator for the IDEAL project.

Gordon and Breach Publishers

ISBN 2-88449-234-8

edited by
John T. Lehman
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

MONOGRAPHIAE BIOLOGICAE
Volume 79

The International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL) has completed its first phase of field studies, and has assembled in this volume its findings, ranging from seismic reflections to historical drought chronologies, geochemistry, and modern food web processes. Multidisciplinary IDEAL investigations are summarized and integrated, revealing that modern changes in the East African lakes share a continuity with past variations in climate and environmental conditions. Results from an array of disciplinary perspectives and evidentiary lines point to the causative role of modern climate variation in the deterioration of Lake Victoria, one of the most prominent lakes on the planet.

The ancient conditions of Victoria and other East African lakes are reconstructed with forensic tools that permit measurements of paleomagnetism, pollen and algal fossils, biogenic minerals, depositional carbonates, and bulk geochemistry. Oral traditions, explorer's journals, and records of the ancient Nile provide human testimonies that parallel the physical record. Studies of biological production, nutrient dynamics, and lower food web processes reveal how the lake communities function at the trophic levels that leave sedimentary evidence in the form of organic matter, minerals, and fossils. Comparisons of weather records and lake properties demonstrate a striking change in climate conditions during the present century with causal links to lake conditions. The collected scientific perspective makes a compelling case for the worth of integrated studies across a spectrum of traditional specialties when they are focused on complex environmental issues. (text from the Kluwer Web site)

Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

Hardbound, ISBN 0-7923-5118-5
July 1998, 250 pp.
NLG 205.00 / USD 110.00 / GBP 70.00


To order this book or look at its contributors and contents go to http://www.wkap.nl/prod/b/0-7923-5118-5

edited by
Eric O. Odada and Daniel O. Olago
Pan African START Secretariat, Dept. of Geology, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Advances in Global Change Research
Volume 12

This volume contains original research papers presented during the Second International Symposium on the Limnology, Climatology, Palaeoclimatology and Biodiversity of the African Great Lakes, organized by the International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL). The book provides a comprehensive coverage of the large lakes of the African Rift System, touching on climate, limnology, palaeoclimatology, sedimentation processes, biodiversity and management issues of these lakes.

The papers contained in this book have significantly advanced our understanding of natural and anthropogenic processes operating in the African Great Lakes, their temporal and spatial variability, their rates of change, and the linkages between environmental and ecological systems. For example, Lake Victoria has undergone dramatic shifts in the lake ecosystem caused by the introduction of the Nile Perch in the 1950s and of the water hyacinth during the past five years. The lake also dried up completely prior to 12,400 yr BP. Thus, the hundreds of species of fish in modern Lake Victoria may have evolved within the last 12,400 years; this is the fastest rate of vertebrate species evolution ever recorded.

This volume provides a comprehensive and comparative view of large African lake systems such as Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi. It serves as a basis for understanding the lakes' system history and sensitivity to processes of change, thus providing an essential tool for decisions related to the sustainable management of such precious resources. This book has been written to be of interest to a wide audience, including limnologists, palaeoclimatologists, evolutionary biology students and researchers, as well as people generally interested in the aquatic environment. (text from the Kluwer Web site)

Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht

Hardbound, ISBN 1-4020-0772-8
July 2002 , 598 pp.
EUR 150.00 / USD 138.00 / GBP 95.00


To order this book or look at its contributors and contents go to http://www.wkap.nl/prod/b/0-7923-5118-5

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Articles

Publication List (PDF format)

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Publication List Criteria

Criteria and process for listing

• Only refereed (i.e., peer reviewed) publications will be accepted for numbering. No abstracts or gray literature please.
• Paper titles should be sent to the IDEAL Program Office AFTER they have been accepted by the publisher for publication.
• The IDEAL Program Office will respond promptly with a number that can be added to the acknowledgements section of the paper.
• All papers with a number in the IDEAL series should be cited in the paper's acknowledgements as follows: "This is publication #___ of the International Decade of East African Lakes (IDEAL) Program."
• Authors are expected to provide the IDEAL Program Office with a complete citation as soon as they have this information to allow the bibliography to remain up-to-date and complete (esp. page numbers which generally won't be known at the time of the request for # assignment).

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