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Conservation lessons from large‐mammal manipulations in East African savannas: the KLEE, UHURU, and GLADE experiments
Author(s) -
Goheen Jacob R.,
Augustine David J.,
Veblen Kari E.,
Kimuyu Duncan M.,
Palmer Todd M.,
Porensky Lauren M.,
Pringle Robert M.,
Ratnam Jayashree,
Riginos Corinna,
Sankaran Mahesh,
Ford Adam T.,
Hassan Abdikadir A.,
Jakopak Rhian,
Kartzinel Tyler R.,
Kurukura Samson,
Louthan Allison M.,
Odadi Wilfred O.,
Otieno Tobias O.,
Wambua Alois M.,
Young Hillary S.,
Young Truman P.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/nyas.13848
Subject(s) - defaunation , herbivore , ungulate , ecology , trophic cascade , population , ecosystem , competition (biology) , geography , trampling , trophic level , carnivore , exclosure , biology , habitat , grazing , predation , food web , rumen , demography , food science , sociology , fermentation
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.