Occurrence (present/absence) and abundance of zooplankton in Murchison Bay, Lake Victoria

This dataset presents zooplankton taxa occurrences and abundance in Murchison Bay, Northern Lake Victoria, Uganda. The data was obtained through a survey conducted in 2012 and 2013. Most of these species are microscopic with size ranging from ca 0.05mm to 2.0 mm and consist of crustaceans (copepods and cladocerans) and rotifers (wheel-animals). They (zooplankton) are important elements of the food chain where energy is transferred from algae (primary producers) to larger invertebrate predators and fish. The zooplankton species assemblage responds to environmental stressors such as nutrient enrichment, acidification, and fish stocks. The effects of environmental stress can be detected through changes in community structure (species composition, abundance, body size, and biomass) and food web structure. The ability of each species to persist in different given trophic conditions, make zooplankton a better bio-monitoring tool. Murchison bay receives effluents from an economically vibrant part of the Lake Victoria catchment (Kampala City) with much of the activities detrimental to the waters of this bay. In order to address some of the concerns, the Directorate of Water Resource Management (DWRM) carried out studies on management criteria for Lake Ecosystem in Murchison Bay in August/September of 2012 and 2013 with the objective of studying water quality indices according to specific requirements of the different water users within Murchison Bay areas for purposes of conservation and improving water quality for domestic uses and fisheries. Zooplankton was part of the key functional groups considered and documented.