February 20, 2012

Daraja Academy Visits Mpala

On February 11th, students from the nearby Daraja Academy (a girls’ secondary school) visited Mpala. The girls headed into the field with many of Mpala’s researchers to get a hands-on look at ecology, conservation, and the research conducted at Mpala. This was the second visit by Daraja Academy in the start of a growing mentor relationship between Mpala and Daraja Academy.







January 31, 2012

Painting the Savanna

by Staline Kibet

This article comes from our most recent newsletter. Check out current and past issues of the Mpala Memos newsletter.

Painting and enumerating trees under a blazing, equatorial sun is not easy work, but our team of twelve has been doing just that since August. You might well wonder why on earth we are doing this. By knowing how many, what kind and what size of trees cover the savanna—and keeping track of those trees over time—we can better understand the ecosystem, guide its sustainable use, and monitor the impacts of climate change. The Mpala Long-term Monitoring Plot is the newest addition to the Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatory (SIGEO). SIGEO is a vast network spanning 21 countries where over 4.5 million trees are monitored in large-scale research plots. 

The first SIGEO plot was established in 1980 on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The Panama plot has helped answer numerous questions about how forests are structured, how fast they grow and why there are so many kinds
of trees in the tropics.  Over the years, the SIGEO program has expanded from the wet to the dry tropics and into temperate areas.  With the establishment of the Mpala Plot, the SIGEO program is making its first foray into savanna ecosystems.

The Mpala plot is unique in other ways. At 150 ha, it is the largest SIGEO plot (most are 50 ha or less), and it is floristically simple (we’ve only identified seven tree species in our first five months whereas other SIGEO plots can hold up to 450 species). Like other SIGEO projects, our team is comprised of national researchers (in our case, partners from the National Museums of Kenya) and local community members trained as research assistants.

As the only savanna plot in the SIGEO network, we are experiencing unique challenges. Savanna work is a thorny business—the acacias, in cahoots with their ant protectors, put up a spirited fight to keep us away.  Many of the trees have multiple stems (the record being 75), each of which must be measured, painted, and tagged. And, of course, we must always keep a watchful eye for elephants, buffalo, and other wildlife.

So far, we have covered approximately 18 ha, mapping, counting and painting 16,411 trees. We plan to check on our plants five years down the line to find out which have died and how (uprooted by elephants?), which have grown and by how much, and to measure new trees. Our hope is that Mpala’s plot will help us unravel the ecological intricacies that maintain our savanna ecosystems, and by comparing our results with those from other plots around the globe, better understand why the natural world is so diverse.
 

April 22, 2010

Monitoring Rangeland Health

Click here to learn about and download the manual Monitoring Rangeland Health - Version II.