This project was inspired by the pressing need to develop management strategies that integrate ecological integrity and continuity of water supply in Kenya. River management is an issue throughout the world but is, if anything, more pertinent to the developing world, where a large proportion of the rapidly expanding population is directly dependent upon rivers for its water needs.
Effective management requires understanding ecological processes.
We can now identify many of the main ecological processes in north temperate streams the importance of riparian vegetation, the role of shredders, etc. What we do not know is whether these ideas, developed in North America and Europe, apply everywhere in the world. If anywhere is going to be different, tropical Africa should be. With this is mind, we have initiated a study into invertebrate community structure and its relationship with riparian detritus inputs in permanently flowing highland streams in Kenya. Here we present the results of a pilot study carried out during July 1999.