African Great Rift Valley Lake Food Web
Freshwater
East Africa — Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Uganda
Description
The East African Great Lakes including Tanganyika, Malawi, and Victoria harbor extraordinary cichlid fish radiations with hundreds of endemic species in each lake. Lake Tanganyika alone has over 250 cichlid species filling diverse trophic niches from algae scrapers to scale eaters. Nile perch introduction to Lake Victoria caused the extinction of over 200 cichlid species.
Trophic Pyramid
Level 5
Decomposers
Benthic bacteria
Chironomid larvae
Freshwater fungi
3 species
Level 4
Tertiary Consumers
Goliath heron
Nile crocodile
African clawless otter
3 species
Level 3
Secondary Consumers
Piscivorous cichlids
Nile perch
African fish eagle
3 species
Level 2
Primary Consumers
Algae-scraping cichlids
Lake sardine
Freshwater shrimp
3 species
Level 1
Producers
Epilithic algae
Phytoplankton
Vallisneria
3 species
Apex Predators
Tertiary Consumers
Secondary Consumers
Primary Consumers
Producers
Key Interactions
- Cichlid adaptive radiation fills trophic niches from herbivory to parasitism
- Nile perch introduction collapsed the Lake Victoria cichlid food web
- Lake sardines form the base of commercial fisheries feeding millions of people
- Deep-water anoxia in Lake Tanganyika limits habitable depth for most fish