TITLE:
Anthropogenic Impacts on Fish Populations in Lake Cayo (Republic of Congo, Central Africa)
AUTHORS:
Armel Ibala Zamba, Magloire Boungou, Tenda Hélène Dembe Louvinguila, Victor Mamonekene, Ronick Kombo, Ephraim Kamba, Gad Boukou, Lérège Batiabo Mikembi, Freedom Honest Poaty Ngot, Parisse Akouango
KEYWORDS:
Fish, Diversity, Ecological Health, Lake Cayo, Lower Guinea
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.10 No.12,
December
4,
2020
ABSTRACT: Ichthyofaunal diversity and the impact of anthropogenic activities on fish population assemblages were studied in Lake Cayo, a small lake located in the coastal region of the Republic of Congo. Twelve stations were sampled twice over a two-year period. Fishing techniques following standardized methods utilizing monofilament gill nets, and nine environment variables were measured at each station. A total of 11,361 specimens comprising 30 species in 28 genera and 18 families were collected with the Cichlidae being the most diversified. Redundancy Analysis with forward selection coupled with Monte Carlo permutation tests identified depth, pH and substrate as accounting for 57.7% of the total variance among the nine variables sampled (p