Getting better with age: Lessons from the Kenya Long-term Exclosure
Experiment (KLEE)
Abstract
The Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE) was established in 1995
in a semi-arid savanna rangeland on the Laikipia Plateau to examine the
separate and combined effects of livestock, wildlife, and megaherbivores
(elephants and giraffes) on their shared environment and on each other.
The long-term nature of this experiment also allowed us to measure these
effects and related questions of stability and resilience in the context
of multiple drought-rainy cycles. Here we outline some of the lessons
learned over the last 29 years. In particular, we summarize three ways
that KLEE exemplifies the value of long-term studies: 1) identifying
experimental effects that take a many years to express themselves, 2)
quantifying the effects of different years, especially multiple
droughts, and 3) capturing time periods long enough to see the signature
of systemic, anthropogenic change in the broader landscape. Across all
aspects of a long-term study such as this one, there is a need to
incorporate both consistency and flexibility to ensure deeper
understanding.