THE RETENTION OF PLANT COARSE PARTICULATE ORGANIC-MATTER (CPOM) AT THE SURFACE OF THE WET-STORE AND DRY-STORE ZONES OF THE NJORO RIVER, KENYA

The distribution of plant coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) on the dry-store and wet-store zones of the Njoro River is described and discussed. The dry-store zone had higher amounts of CPOM than the wet-store zone (Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test: DN=0.55, P<0.001). A longitudinal distribution of CPOM was evident on the dry-store zone (Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA by ranks test: H=15.62, P<0.001) but not on the wet-store zone (H=6.37, P>0.05). One-way ANOVA indicated that CPOM amounts on the pool and riffle biotopes differed significantly (F15,14=7.91, P<0.001). Riffle biotopes seem to act as 'umbilici' feeding pool biotopes with CPOM.