Ecological consequences of large herbivore exclusion in an <scp>A</scp>frican savanna: 12 years of data from the <scp>UHURU</scp> experiment

Alston, Jesse M.; Reed, Courtney G.; Khasoha, Leo M.; Brown, Bianca R. P.; Busienei, Gilbert; Carlson, Nathaniel; Coverdale, Tyler C.; Dudenhoeffer, Megan; Dyck, Marissa A.; Ekeno, John; Hassan, Abdikadir A.; Hohbein, Rhianna R.; Jakopak, Rhiannon P.; Kimiti, Buas; Kurukura, Samson; Lokeny, Peter; Louthan, Allison M.; Musila, Simon; Musili, Paul M.; Tindall, Tosca; Weiner, Sarah; Kartzinel, Tyler R.; Palmer, Todd M.; Pringle, Robert M.; Goheen, Jacob R.

doi:10.1002/ecy.3649

Cited by 9 publications

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“…Mpala Research Centre and Conservancy (0°17 0 N, 37°52 0 E) comprises 200 km 2 of semi-arid thorn-scrub savannah managed for wildlife conservation and livestock production [41,42]. The large-herbivore assemblage includes two-dozen wild species and 5 livestock species (in 2021, approximately 1300 cattle, approximately 300 sheep and goats, approximately 130 camels, and some donkeys).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Group sizes and home range sizes were obtained from publications from our study site whenever possible, or otherwise from PanTHERIA or by using averages from a literature search (details in electronic supplementary material, table S2). To calculate understorey diet proportion for each sample, we summed the RRA of plant mOTUs less than 2 m tall for individual fecal samples based on diet data in [43] and local plant-height data [42]; for 60 samples not present in the diet dataset, we used the host's species-wide mean.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large-herbivore nemabiomes: patterns of parasite diversity and sharing

et al. 2022

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Amidst global shifts in the distribution and abundance of wildlife and livestock, we have only a rudimentary understanding of ungulate parasite communities and parasite-sharing patterns. We used qPCR and DNA metabarcoding of fecal samples to characterize gastrointestinal nematode (Strongylida) community composition and sharing among 17 sympatric species of wild and domestic large mammalian herbivore in central Kenya. We tested a suite of hypothesis-driven predictions about the role of host traits and phylogenetic relatedness in describing parasite infections. Host species identity explained 27–53% of individual variation in parasite prevalence, richness, community composition and phylogenetic diversity. Host and parasite phylogenies were congruent, host gut morphology predicted parasite community composition and prevalence, and hosts with low evolutionary distinctiveness were centrally positioned in the parasite-sharing network. We found no evidence that host body size, social-group size or feeding height were correlated with parasite composition. Our results highlight the interwoven evolutionary and ecological histories of large herbivores and their gastrointestinal nematodes and suggest that host identity, phylogeny and gut architecture—a phylogenetically conserved trait related to parasite habitat—are the overriding influences on parasite communities. These findings have implications for wildlife management and conservation as wild herbivores are increasingly replaced by livestock.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-herbivore nemabiomes: patterns of parasite diversity and sharing

et al. 2022

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“…We collected data from three long‐term herbivore‐exclusion experiments at Mpala Research Centre in central Laikipia (0°17′N, 37°52′ E, 1600‐m elevation): Ungulate Herbivory Under Rainfall Uncertainty [UHURU, established in 2008 and consisting of 1‐ha (100 × 100 m) plots; Alston et al, 2022; Goheen et al, 2013; Kartzinel et al, 2014], the Kenya Long‐term Exclosure Experiment [KLEE, established in 1995 and consisting of 4‐ha (200 × 200 m) plots; Riginos et al, 2012; Young et al, 2018], and the Glade Legacies And Defaunation Experiment [GLADE; established in 1999 and consisting of 0.49‐ha (70 × 70 m) plots; Sankaran & Augustine, 2004]. UHURU and GLADE are both located on sandy luvisols dominated by Acacia ( Senegalia ) brevispica , A .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We collected data from three long-term herbivore-exclusion experiments at Mpala Research Centre in central Laikipia (0°17′N, 37°52′ E, 1600-m elevation): Ungulate Herbivory Under Rainfall Uncertainty [UHURU, established in 2008 and consisting of 1-ha (100 × 100 m) plots; Alston et al, 2022;Goheen et al, 2013;Kartzinel et al, 2014],…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These GLADE exclosures are replicated four times (two of which contain treeless glades created by abandoned livestock corrals; Sankaran & Augustine, 2004) and are each paired with adjacent unfenced plots (eight plots in total). We note that in two (of four) GLADE exclosure-control pairs, the exclosure fences were removed in 2017 (5 years prior to sampling), which might diminish the effect of wild LMH exclusion; however, we included these plots according to their originally assigned treatments, which (a) is conservative with respect to our hypotheses that herbivores have strong effects (whether positive or negative) on Opuntia and (b) enables us to at least preliminarily evaluate whether herbivore 'reintroduction' rapidly homogenises Opuntia For further details of these experiments and their environmental contexts, see Goheen et al (2013Goheen et al ( , 2018, Alston et al (2022), Sankaran and Augustine (2004), and Young et al (2018).…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wild herbivores enhance resistance to invasion by exotic cacti in an African savanna

et al. 2022

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1. Whether wild herbivores confer biotic resistance to invasion by exotic plants remains a key question in ecology. There is evidence that wild herbivores can impede invasion by exotic plants, but it is unclear whether and how this generalises across ecosystems with varying wild herbivore diversity and functional groups of plants, particularly over long-term (decadal) time frames.2. Using data from three long-term (13-to 26-year) exclosure experiments in central Kenya, we tested the effects of wild herbivores on the density of exotic invasive cacti, Opuntia stricta and O. ficus-indica (collectively, Opuntia), which are among the worst invasive species globally. We also examined relationships between wild herbivore richness and elephant occurrence probability with the probability of O. stricta presence at the landscape level (6150 km 2 ).3. Opuntia densities were 74% to 99% lower in almost all plots accessible to wild herbivores compared to exclosure plots. Opuntia densities also increased more rapidly across time in plots excluding wild herbivores. These effects were largely driven by megaherbivores (≥1000 kg), particularly elephants. 4. At the landscape level, modelled Opuntia stricta occurrence probability was negatively correlated with estimated species richness of wild herbivores and

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Herbivore regulation of savanna vegetation: Structural complexity, diversity, and the complexity–diversity relationship

Coverdale,

Boucher,

Singh

et al. 2024

Ecological Monographs

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Large mammalian herbivores exert strong top‐down control on plants, which in turn influence most ecological processes. Accordingly, the decline, displacement, or extinction of wild large herbivores in African savannas is expected to alter the physical structure of vegetation, the diversity of plant communities, and downstream ecosystem functions. However, herbivore impacts on vegetation comprise both direct and indirect effects and often depend on herbivore body size and plant type. Understanding how herbivores affect savanna vegetation requires disaggregating the effects of different herbivores and the responses of different plants, as well as accounting for both the structural complexity and composition of plant assemblages. We combined high‐resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) with field measurements from size‐selective herbivore exclosures in Kenya to determine how herbivores affect the diversity and physical structure of vegetation, how these impacts vary with body size and plant type, and whether there are predictable associations between plant diversity and structural complexity. Herbivores generally reduced the diversity and abundance of both overstory and understory plants, though the magnitude of these impacts varied substantially as a function of body size and plant type: only megaherbivores (elephants and giraffes) affected tree cover, whereas medium‐ and small‐bodied herbivores had stronger effects on herbaceous diversity and abundance. We also found evidence that herbivores altered the strength and direction of interactions between trees and herbaceous plants, with signatures of facilitation in the presence of herbivores and of competition in their absence. While megaherbivores uniquely affected tree structure, medium‐ and small‐bodied species had stronger (and complementary) effects on metrics of herbaceous vegetation structure. Plant structural responses to herbivore exclusion were species‐specific: of five dominant tree species, just three exhibited significant individual morphological variation across exclosure treatments, and the size class of herbivores responsible for these effects varied across species. Irrespective of exclosure treatment, more species‐rich plant communities were more structurally complex. We conclude that the diversity and architecture of savanna vegetation depend on consumptive and nonconsumptive plant–herbivore interactions; the roles of herbivore diversity, body size, and plant traits in mediating those interactions; and a positive feedback between plant diversity and structural complexity.

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Ecological consequences of large herbivore exclusion in an African savanna: 12 years of data from the UHURU experiment

Abstract: There are 13 files that provide location, rainfall, habitat, vegetation, and animal data from the UHURU experiment. There are several column headings that identify the scale and location of sampling, appearing in many of the 13 datasets that follow.

Cited by 9 publications

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Large-herbivore nemabiomes: patterns of parasite diversity and sharing

Large-herbivore nemabiomes: patterns of parasite diversity and sharing

Wild herbivores enhance resistance to invasion by exotic cacti in an African savanna

Herbivore regulation of savanna vegetation: Structural complexity, diversity, and the complexity–diversity relationship

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