King, Leighton (2024). Lessons from the past: Exploring invertebrate assemblages of Lake Victoria over decadal to millennial timescales to unravel anthropogenic impacts. (Thesis). Universität Bern, Bern
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Abstract
The main objective of this thesis is to disentangle the food web dynamics of Lake Victoria over the past century within the context of baseline environmental variability over millennia. Throughout this thesis, I use biological and geochemical indicators from lake sediment cores, with a focus on invertebrate remains, to examine the impact of anthropogenic stressors on the ecosystem dynamics of Lake Victoria. For this purpose, I first investigate how past changes in the invertebrate assemblage coincided with regional climate variability over millennia (Chapter 1). I then reconstruct major changes in the food web (i.e., algal and zooplankton community composition) that were driven by anthropogenic stressors (Chapter 2). Third, I examine the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the chironomid and cladoceran assemblages over the past century (Chapter 3). And last, I explore the influence of invertebrate and fish predation on the abundance and size structure of a planktonic cladoceran over decadal and centennial timescales (Chapter 4). Finally, I conclude with the overarching lessons that can be learned from the research presented throughout this thesis.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Dissertation Type: | Cumulative |
| Date of Defense: | 3 June 2024 |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology 500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology |
| Institute / Center: | 08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) |
| Depositing User: | Hammer Igor |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jul 2024 13:21 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Aug 2024 21:01 |
| URI: | https://boristheses.unibe.ch/id/eprint/5299 |
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