Large lake ecosystems

The Global Ecoregions also identify the most outstanding examples of diverse and endemic freshwater faunas in large lakes found in temperate and tropical regions, many displaying extraordinary species flocks and adaptive radiations in fish taxa.
Some particularly notable lake biotas include those of the African Rift Lakes and Lake Tana in Ethiopia, Lake Baikal, Lake Biwa of southern Japan, the high altitude lakes of the Andes, and the highland lakes of Mexico1).

In this habitat are the following ecoregions:

Afrotropical
(182) Rift Valley Lakes

Neotropical
(183) High Andean Lakes

Palearctic
(184) Lake Baikal
(185) Lake Biwa

1) Myers 1960, Roberts 1975, Hocutt & Wiley 1986, Allen 1991, Stiassny 1992, WCMC 1992, Nagelkerke 1995, Kottelat & Whitten 1996, Olson et al. 1999, Thieme et al. in prep.

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
Measure your footprint

see all WWF gifts

Building a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence.