Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T07:22:10.573Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Age and Origin of Lake Ejagham, Cameroon, and Its Endemic Fishes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2017

Jay Curt Stager ,
Kenneth Alton ,
Christopher H. Martin ,
David T. King Jr. ,
Lucille W. Petruny ,
Brendan Wiltse  and
Daniel A. Livingstone
Jay Curt Stager*
Affiliation:
Natural Sciences, Paul Smith’s College, Paul Smiths, New York 12970, USA
Kenneth Alton
Affiliation:
Natural Sciences, Paul Smith’s College, Paul Smiths, New York 12970, USA
Christopher H. Martin
Affiliation:
Biology Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514, USA
David T. King Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA
Lucille W. Petruny
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA
Brendan Wiltse
Affiliation:
Natural Sciences, Paul Smith’s College, Paul Smiths, New York 12970, USA
Daniel A. Livingstone
Affiliation:
(deceased) Department of Zoology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27706, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Natural Sciences, Paul Smith’s College, Paul Smiths, New York 12970, USA. E-mail address: cstager@paulsmiths.edu (J.C. Stager).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lake Ejagham is a small, shallow lake in Cameroon, West Africa, which supports five endemic species of cichlid fishes in two distinct lineages. Genetic evidence suggests a relatively young age for the species flocks, but supporting geologic evidence has thus far been unavailable. Here we present diatom, geochemical, mineralogical, and radiocarbon data from two sediment cores that provide new insights into the age and origin of Lake Ejagham and its endemic fishes. Radiocarbon ages at the base of the longer core indicate that the lake formed approximately 9 ka ago, and the diatom record of the shorter core suggests that hydroclimate variability during the last 3 millennia was similar to that of other lakes in Cameroon and Ghana. These findings establish a maximum age of ca. 9 cal ka BP for the lake and its endemic species and suggest that repeated cichlid speciation in two distinct lineages occurred rapidly within the lake. Local geology and West African paleoclimate records argue against a volcanic, chemical, or climatic origin for Lake Ejagham. Although not conclusive, the morphometry of the lake and possible signs of impact-induced effects on quartz grains are instead more suggestive of a bolide impact.

Keywords

AfricaCameroonCichlidDiatomLake EjaghamEvolutionWest African monsoonSpeciation
Type
Tribute to Daniel Livingstone and Paul Colinvaux
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 89 , Issue 1: Tribute to Daniel Livingstone and Paul Colinvaux , January 2018 , pp. 21 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blaauw, M., websites, with the exception of Christen, J.A., 2011. Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Analysis 6, 457–474.Google Scholar
Bolnick, D.I., Fitzpatrick, B.M., 2007. Sympatric speciation: models and empirical evidence. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 38, 459–487.Google Scholar
Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., Bodmer, W.F., 1971. The Genetics of Human Populations. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Cornen, G., Bande, Y., Giresse, P., Maley, J., 1992. The nature and chronostratigraphy of Quaternary pyroclastic accumulations from Lake Barombi Mbo (West-Cameroon). Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 51, 357–374.Google Scholar
Coyne, J.A., Orr, H.A., 2004. Speciation. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.Google Scholar
Dunz, A.R., Schliewen, U.K., 2010. Description of a Tilapia (Coptodon) species flock of Lake Ejagham (Cameroon), including a redescription of Tilapia deckerti Thys van den Audenaerde, 1967 (Perciformes, Cichlidae). Spixiana 33, 251–280.Google Scholar
Elbeshausen, D., Wünnemann, K., Collins, G.S., 2013. The transition from circular to elliptical impact craters. Journal of Geophysical Research Planets 118, 2295–2309.Google Scholar
Ephraim, B.E., 2012. Investigation of the geochemical signatures and conditions of formation of metacarbonate rocks occurring within the Mamfe embayment of south-eastern Nigeria. Earth Sciences Research Journal 16, 39–56.Google Scholar
Eseme, E., Abanda, P.A., Agyingi, C.M., Foba-Tendo, J., Hannigan, R.E., 2006. Composition and applied sedimentology of salt from brines of the Mamfe Basin, Cameroon. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 91, 41–55.Google Scholar
Fairhead, J.D., Okerere, C.S., Nnange, J.M., 1991. Crustal structure of the Mamfe basin, West Africa, based on gravity data. Tectonophysics 186, 351–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrière, L., Koeberl, C., Reimold, W.U., Hecht, L., Bartosova, K., 2009. The origin of “toasted” quartz in impactites revisited. In: 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX, abstract no. 1751.Google Scholar
French, B.M., 1998. Traces of Catastrophe: A Handbook of Shock-Metamorphic Effects in Terrestrial Meteorite Impact Structures. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX.Google Scholar
French, B.M., Koeberl, C., 2010. The convincing identification of terrestrial meteorite impact structures: what works, what doesn’t, and why. Earth-Science Reviews 98, 123–170.Google Scholar
Gasse, F., 1986. East African Diatoms: Taxonomy, Ecological Distribution. Biblioteca Diatomologica 11. J. Cramer, Stuttgart, Germany.Google Scholar
Giresse, P., Maley, J., Brenac, P., 1994. Late Quaternary palaeoenvironments in the Lake Barombi Mbo (West Cameroon) deduced from pollen and carbon isotopes of organic matter. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 107, 65–78.Google Scholar
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 2016. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Version 2016-2 (accessed October 22, 2016). http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/183087/0.Google Scholar
Humphries, J., Miller, R.R., 1981. A remarkable species flock of pupfishes, genus Cyprinodon, from Yucatan, Mexico. Copeia 1981, 52–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kling, G.W., 1987. Comparative Limnology of Lakes in Cameroon, West Africa. PhD dissertation, Duke University, Durham, NC.Google Scholar
Kling, G.W., Evans, W.C., Tanyileke, G., Kusakabe, M., Ohba, T., Yoshida, Y., Hell, J.V., 2005. Degassing Lakes Nyos and Monoun: defusing certain disaster. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102, 14185–14190.Google Scholar
Kociolek, J.P., 2005. A checklist and preliminary bibliography of the recent, freshwater diatoms of inland environments of the continental United States. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56, 395–525.Google Scholar
Koeberl, C., Bottomley, R., Glass, B., Storzer, D., 1997. Geochemistry and age of Ivory Coast tektites and microtektites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61, 1745–1772.Google Scholar
Laird, K.R., Kingsbury, M.V., Cumming, B.F., 2010. Diatom habitats, species diversity and water-depth inference models across surface-sediment transects in Worth Lake, northwestern Ontario, Canada. Journal of Paleolimnology 44, 1009–1024.Google Scholar
Laird, K.R., Kingsbury, M.V., Lewis, C.F.M., Cumming, B.F., 2011. Diatom-inferred depth models in 8 Canadian boreal lakes: inferred changes in the benthic:planktonic depth boundary and implications for assessment of past droughts. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 1201–1217.Google Scholar
Lange-Bertalot, H., Bak, M., Witkowski, A., 2011. Diatoms of Europe: Diatoms of the European Inland Waters and Comparable Habitats. Vol. 6, Eunotia and Some Related Genera. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggell, Liechtenstein.Google Scholar
Lebamba, J., Vincens, A., Maley, J., 2012. Pollen, vegetation change and climate at Lake Barombi Mbo (Cameroon) during the last ca. 33,000 cal yr BP: a numerical approach. Climate of the Past 8, 59–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maley, J., Brenac, P., 1998. Vegetation dynamics, palaeoenvironments and climatic changes in the forests of western Cameroon during the last 28,000 years. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 99, 157–187.Google Scholar
Martin, C.H., 2012. Weak disruptive selection and incomplete phenotypic divergence in two classic examples of sympatric speciation: Cameroon crater lake cichlids. American Naturalist 180, E90–E109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin, C.H., 2013. Strong assortative mating by diet, color, size, and morphology but limited progress toward sympatric speciation in a classic example: Cameroon crater lake cichlids. Evolution 67, 2114–2123.Google Scholar
Martin, C.H., Cutler, J.S., Friel, J.P., Dening, T., Coop, G., Wainwright, P.C., 2015. Complex histories of repeated colonization and hybridization cast doubt on the clearest examples of sympatric speciation in the wild. Evolution 69, 1406–1422.Google Scholar
Martin, C.H., Wainwright, P.C., 2011. Trophic novelty is linked to exceptional rates of morphological diversification in two adaptive radiations of Cyprinodon pupfishes. Evolution 65, 2197–2212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrow, J.R., 2007. Shock-metamorphic petrography and microRaman spectroscopy of quartz in upper impactite interval, ICDP drill core LB-07A, Bosumtwi impact crater, Ghana. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 42, 591–609.Google Scholar
Musilová, Z., Indermaur, A., Nyom, A.R.B., Tropek, R., Martin, C., Schliewen, U.K., 2014. Persistence of Stomatepia mongo, an endemic cichlid fish of the Barombi Mbo crater lake, southwestern Cameroon, with notes on its life history and behavior. Copeia 14, 556–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ndougsa-Mbarga, T., Manguelle-Dicoum, E., Campos-Enriquez, J.-O., Atangana, Q.Y., 2007. Gravity anomalies, sub-surface structure and oil and gas migration in the Mamfe basin, Cameroon-Nigeria, sedimentary basin. Geofísica Internacional 46, 129–139.Google Scholar
Neumann, D., Stiassny, M.J., Schliewen, U.K., 2011. Two new sympatric Sarotherodon species (Pisces: Cichlidae) endemic to Lake Ejagham, Cameroon, west-central Africa, with comments on the Sarotherodon galilaeus species complex. Zootaxa 2765, 1–20.Google Scholar
Nguetsop, V.F., Bentaleb, I., Favier, C., Martin, C., Bietrix, S., Giresse, P., Servant-Vildary, S., Servant, M., 2011. Past environmental and climatic changes during the last 7200 cal yr BP in Adamawa plateau (Northern-Cameroun) based on fossil diatoms and sedimentary carbon isotopic records from Lake Mbalang. Climate of the Past 7, 1371–1393.Google Scholar
Nguetsop, V.F., Servant-Vildary, S., Servant, M., Roux, M., 2010. Long and short-term scale climatic variability in the last 5500 years in Africa according to modern and fossil diatoms from Lake Ossa (Western Cameroon). Global and Planetary Change 72, 356–367.Google Scholar
Nicholls, K.H., Carney, E.C., 2011. The rare planktonic diatom Eunotia zasuminensis in Canada. Canadian Journal of Botany 57, 1150–1157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Njoh, O.A., Nforsi, M.B., Datcheu, J.N., 2015. Aptian-Late Cenomanian fluvio-lacustrione lithofacies and palynomorphs from Mamfe Basin, southwest Cameroon, West Africa. International Journal of Geosciences 6, 795–811.Google Scholar
Offem, B.O., Ayotunde, E.O., Ikpi, G.U., Ada, F.B, Ochang, S.N., 2011. Plankton-based assessment of the trophic status of three tropical lakes. Journal of Environmental Protection 2, 304–315.Google Scholar
Peck, J.A., Green, R.R., Shanahan, T., King, J.W., Overpeck, J.T., Scholz, C.A., 2004. A magnetic mineral record of Late Quaternary tropical climate variability from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 215, 37–57.Google Scholar
Powers, M.C., 1953. A new roundness scale for sedimentary particles. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 23, 117–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, J., Talbot, M.R., Haskell, B.J., 2003. Mid-Holocene climate changes in Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. Quaternary Research 60, 133–141.Google Scholar
Schaller, M.F., Fung, M.K., Wright, J.D., Katz, M.E., Kent, D.V., 2016. Impact ejecta at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Science 354, 225–229.Google Scholar
Schliewen, U.K., Klee, B., 2004. Reticulate sympatric speciation in Cameroonian crater lake cichlids. Frontiers in Zoology 1, 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-1-5.Google Scholar
Schliewen, U.K., Kocher, T.D., McKaye, K.R., Seehausen, O., Tautz, D., 2006. Evolutionary biology: evidence for sympatric speciation? Nature 444, E12–E13.Google Scholar
Schliewen, U.K., Rassmann, K., Markmann, M., Markert, J., Kocher, T., Tautz, D., 2001. Genetic and ecological divergence of a monophyletic cichlid species pair under fully sympatric conditions in Lake Ejagham, Cameroon. Molecular Ecology 10, 1471–1488.Google Scholar
Schliewen, U.K., Tautz, D., Pääbo, S., 1994. Sympatric speciation suggested by monophyly of crater lake cichlids. Nature 6472, 629–632.Google Scholar
Schluter, D., McPhail, J.D., 1992. Ecological character displacement and speciation in sticklebacks. American Naturalist 140, 85–108.Google Scholar
Seehausen, O., 2002. Patterns in fish radiation are compatible with Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria and 14 600 year history for its cichlid species flock. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 269, 491–497.Google Scholar
Seehausen, O., 2006. African cichlid fish: a model system in adaptive radiation research. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273, 1987–1998.Google Scholar
Shanahan, T.M., Overpeck, J.T., Anchukaitis, K.J., Beck, J.W., Cole, J.E., Dettman, D.L., Peck, J.A., Scholz, C.A., King, J.W., 2009. Atlantic forcing of persistent drought in West Africa. Science 324, 377–380.Google Scholar
Shanklin, E., 2007. Exploding lakes in myth and reality: an African case study. Geological Society, London. Special Publications 273, 165–176.Google Scholar
Stager, J.C., Cumming, B.F., Laird, K.R., Garrigan-Piela, A., Pederson, N., Wiltse, B., Lane, C.S., Nester, J., Ruzmaikin, A., 2017. A 1600-year diatom record of hydroclimate variability from Wolf Lake, New York. Holocene 17, 246–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stager, J.C., Johnson, T.C., 2007. The late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria and the origin of its endemic biota. Hydrobiologia 596, 5–16.Google Scholar
Stager, J.C., Mayewski, P.A., White, J., Chase, B.M., Neumann, F., Meadows, M.E., King, C., Dixon, D., 2012. Precipitation variability in the winter rainfall zone of South Africa during the last 1400 years linked to the austral westerlies. Climate of the Past 8, 877–887.Google Scholar
Stager, J.C., Ryves, D., Cumming, B.F., Meeker, L.D., Beer, J., 2005. Solar variability and the levels of Lake Victoria, East Africa, during the last millennium. Journal of Paleolimnology 33, 243–251.Google Scholar
Stager, J.C., Ryves, D.B., Chase, B.M., Pausata, F.S.R., 2011. Catastrophic drought in the Afro-Asian monsoon regions during Heinrich event 1. Science 331, 1299–1302.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., 1993. Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, 215–230.Google Scholar
Sutherland, R.A., 1998. Loss-on-ignition estimates of organic matter and relationships to organic carbon in fluvial bed sediments. Hydrobiologia 389, 153–167.Google Scholar
Tokam, A.-P.K., Tabod, C.T., Nyblade, A.A., Julià, J., Wiens, D.A., Pasyanos, M.E., 2010. Structure of the crust beneath Cameroon, West Africa, from the joint inversion of Rayleigh wave group velocities and receiver functions. Geophysical Journal International 182, 1061–1076.Google Scholar
Trewavas, E., Green, J., Cobet, S.A., 1972. Ecological studies on crater lakes in West Cameroon fishes of Barombi Mbo. Journal of Zoology 167, 41–95.Google Scholar
Wentworth, C.K., 1922. A scale of grade and class terms for clastic sediments. Journal of Geology 30, 377–392.Google Scholar
Whitehead, J., Spray, J.G., Grieve, R.A.F., 2002. Origin of “toasted” quartz in terrestrial impact structures. Geology 30, 431–434.Google Scholar