Journal
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Volume 1429, Issue 1, Pages 31-49Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13848
Keywords
competition; extinction; extirpation; fire; herbivore exclusion; mutualism; Laikipia; predation; resilience; trophic cascade; wildlife loss
Categories
Funding
- NSF DEB [1355122, 1457691, 1547679, 1556728]
- NSERC
- University of Wyoming
- James Smithson Fund of the Smithsonian Institution
- National Geographic Society [4691-91, 9106-12]
- National Science Foundation [LTREB DEB 97-07477, 03-16402, 08-16453, 12-56004, 12-56034]
- African Elephant Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [98210-0-G563]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1547679] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1556728, 1355122] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
African savannas support an iconic fauna, but they are undergoing large-scale population declines and extinctions of large (>5 kg) mammals. Long-term, controlled, replicated experiments that explore the consequences of this defaunation (and its replacement with livestock) are rare. The Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia County, Kenya, hosts three such experiments, spanning two adjacent ecosystems and environmental gradients within them: the Kenya Long-Term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE; since 1995), the Glade Legacies and Defaunation Experiment (GLADE; since 1999), and the Ungulate Herbivory Under Rainfall Uncertainty experiment (UHURU; since 2008). Common themes unifying these experiments are (1) evidence of profound effects of large mammalian herbivores on herbaceous and woody plant communities; (2) competition and compensation across herbivore guilds, including rodents; and (3) trophic cascades and other indirect effects. We synthesize findings from the past two decades to highlight generalities and idiosyncrasies among these experiments, and highlight six lessons that we believe are pertinent for conservation. The removal of large mammalian herbivores has dramatic effects on the ecology of these ecosystems; their ability to rebound from these changes (after possible refaunation) remains unexplored.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available