Establishing chironomids as paleo-indicators for Lake Tanganyika: a preliminary qualitative assessment of chironomid distribut

This paper presents the results of a preliminary qualitative study on the distribution and diversity of live larval chironomids (Insecta: Order Diptera, non-biting midges) in the Kigoma Bay Region of Lake Tanganyika. In recent years, fossil midges have been used extensively, both as ecological indicators of anthropogenic impacts on lakes, and as proxies in paleoclimate/paleoecological studies (Eggermont & Verschuren, 2003a). Nevertheless, the majority of these studies have been restricted to the Northern Hemisphere, and with several exceptions, their use in limnological examinations in tropical East Africa (and Lake Tanganyika in particular) has been rather limited (Eggermont & Verschuren, 2003a). Indeed, three recent studies by Eggermont and Verschuren (2003a,b,c) represent the first known work of this kind in Lake Tanganyika. Two of these papers focused on the taxonomy of sub-fossil chironomids (Eggermont & Verschuren, 2003a & b), while a third examined impacts of sediment pollution in areas adjacent to several tributary drainage basins inferred by the chironomid fauna (Eggermont & Verschuren, 2003 c). The results of these studies advocate for the value of chironomids in recent ecological and paleontological examinations of this and other East African lacustrine ecosystems.