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The Lesser Flamingos constantly commute between the soda lakes of East Africa in search of food. Their preferred food, the cyanobacterium Arthrospira fusiformis, usually establishes dense populations in saline-alkaline habitats. However, the algal food resources are not stable and crash unexpectedly from time to time. Hence any site that provides food in suitable quality and quantity makes a valuable contribution to the survival of these nearly endangered birds. This paper reports on the development of a new feeding ground for the Lesser Flamingos; Lake Oloidien, a former bay of the freshwater lake Naivasha. Phytoplankton succession and biomass, salinity and flamingo numbers were analysed over the period 2001-2013. As a result of a progressive increase in salinity to values of between 3 and 6 ppt, Oloidien has since 2006 hosted dense blooms of a small sized ecotype of A. fusiformis. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and partial sequences of the beta and alpha subunits including intergenic spacer (cpcBA-IGS) of the phycocyanin operon confirmed that a field clone and one isolated strain of Arthrospira from Lake Oloidien was similar to the strains in other soda lakes of Kenya. PCR-based results confirmed the non-toxic character of the isolated Arthrospira strain. The biomass of Arthrospira in the whole lake ranged from 236 to 301 t dry weight in the phase when more than 100,000 flamingos were present (2006-2012). Based on the biomass of Arthrospira present, the carrying capacity of Lake Oloidien was calculated to be 150,000-250,000 Lesser Flamingos. In the phase of low flamingo numbers (2013), the biomass of Arthrospira in the lake rose to a value of 922 t.

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Mass developments of a small sized ecotype of Arthrospira fusiformis in Lake Oloidien, Kenya, a new feeding ground for Lesser Flamingos in East Africa.