The Second International Symposium on the East African Lakes was held from 10-15 January 2000 at Club Makokola on the southern shore of Lake Malawi. The symposium was organized by the International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL), a research consortium of African, European and North American scientists interested in promoting the investigations of African Great Lakes as archives of environmental and climatic dynamics. Over one hundred African, European and North American scientists with special expertise in the tropical lakes participated in the symposium which featured compelling presentations on the limnology, climatology, palaeoclimatology and biodiversity of the East African Lakes. It is their papers that comprise this book. The large lakes of East Africa are important natural resources that are heavily utilized by their bordering countries for transportation, water supply, fisheries, waste disposal, recreation and tourism. The lakes are unique in many ways: they are sensitive to climatic change and their circulation dynamics, water-column chemistry and biological complexity differ significantly from large lakes at higher latitudes; they have long, continuous, high resolution records of past climatic change; and they have rich and diverse populations of endemic organisms. These unique properties and the significance of the palaeolimnological records demand and attract research interest from around the world.

This volume contains 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 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.

The Second International Symposium on the East African Lakes was held from 10-15 January 2000 at Club Makokola on the southern shore of Lake Malawi. The symposium was organized by the International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL), a research consortium of African, European and North American scientists interested in promoting the investigations of African Great Lakes as archives of environmental and climatic dynamics. Over one hundred African, European and North American scientists with special expertise in the tropical lakes participated in the symposium which featured compelling presentations on the limnology, climatology, palaeoclimatology and biodiversity of the East African Lakes. It is their papers that comprise this book. The large lakes of East Africa are important natural resources that are heavily utilized by their bordering countries for transportation, water supply, fisheries, waste disposal, recreation and tourism. The lakes are unique in many ways: they are sensitive to climatic change and their circulation dynamics, water-column chemistry and biological complexity differ significantly from large lakes at higher latitudes; they have long, continuous, high resolution records of past climatic change; and they have rich and diverse populations of endemic organisms. These unique properties and the significance of the palaeolimnological records demand and attract research interest from around the world.

This volume contains 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 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.