An Assessment of plankton diversity as an water quality indicator in small man-made reservoirs in the Mzingwane catchment, Limpopo basin, Zimbabwe

• ABSTRACT
  
• DECLARATION
  
• DEDICATION
  
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
  
• I. Introduction
  
  • 1.1 Background
    
  • 1.3 Hypotheses
    
  • 1.4 Objectives
    
• II. Materials and Methods
  
  • 2.1 Study area
    
    • 2.1.1 Land and water use in the communal Lands
      
    • 2.1.2 Land and water use in the National Park
      
  • 2.2 Data collection
    
  • 2.2.1 Plankton samples
    
    • 2.2.3 Water samples
      
  • 2.3 Data analysis
    
• III. Results
  
  • 3.1 Land and water use in the area
    
  • 3.2 Water quality
    
  • 3.3 Plankton community composition
    
    • 3.3.1 Phytoplankton
      
    • 3.1.2 Zooplankton
      
    • 3.1.3 Overall plankton abundance
      
    • 3.1.4 Relationships between physico-chemical parameters and plankton species in the studied reservoirs
      
• IV. Discussion
  
  • 4.1 Water quality aspects, land and water use
    
  • 4.2 Plankton community composition, diversity and abundance in relation to land and water use
    
    • 4.2.1 Seasonal variation in plankton diversity and abundance
      
    • 4.2.2 Plankton composition
      
    • 4.2.3 Study limitations
      
    • 4.2.4 Management implications
      
• V. Conclusion
  
• VI. References