Abstract:
An effort to understand the composition and distribution of benthic invertebrate and fish communities as indication of water quality spectra in three bays: Murchison Bay associated with urban, Fielding Bay with semi-urban and Hannington Bay with rural catchment land use patterns in Victoria Basin is the main purpose of this thesis. In view of the dramatic ecological changes such as unprecedented loss of biodiversity and deterioration of water quality that have happened in Lake Victoria since 1960's, this study introduces biological monitoring as a tool for assessing water quality in Lake Victoria and its environs in the management of the basin waters.