Goheen, JR, Augustine, DJ, Veblen, KE et al. (18 more authors) (2018) Conservation lessons from large-mammal manipulations in East African savannas: the KLEE, UHURU, and GLADE experiments. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1429 (1). pp. 31-49. ISSN 0077-8923
Abstract
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.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with the Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. |
Keywords: | competition; extinction; extirpation; fire; herbivore exclusion; mutualism; Laikipia; predation; resilience; trophic cascade; wildlife loss |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 09 Aug 2018 16:15 |
Last Modified: | 11 May 2019 00:44 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/nyas.13848 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:134361 |