While water from Lake Matano does flow via rivers to Lake Mahalona and Lake Towuti, such flow does not appear to spread diatoms from Lake Matano to these lakes, as the proportion of taxa each of these two lakes that are also in Lake Matano (roughly half) is the same as it is for Lake Masapi, another lake on Sulawesi disconnected from Lake Matano.
Water from Lake Matano flows into Lake Mahalona and Lake Towuti via rivers but does not appear to transfer diatoms between these lakes. The percentage of taxa in each of these two lakes that are also present in Lake Matano (around half) is identical to the percentage found in Lake Masapi, another lake on Sulawesi disconnected from Lake Matano.