GOSHEN BLOGS

Thanks to Tori, Laura, Luke, and David for a tremendous contribution of energy, enthusiasm, and persistence.  The research is done – more accurately we have plenty of data to analyze!

I am writing from the Mennonite Guest House in Nairobi where Donna, Isaac, Mara, and I are spending our final days in Kenya.  Last evening we successfully took Laura and David to the airport for their 11:25 p.m. flight back home.  The evening before we made the same trip with Luke, who (as of now) is safely back in Illinois.  It has been mind boggling how quickly the 6 weeks have gone by, a swirl of data collection, game drives, and evening conversations.

This previous week was a busy one.  On Monday the entire team went to Segera ranch for data collection.  We stopped in at the main office to say farewell to the land managers and thank them for the opportunity to research on their land.  Tuesday was also filled with measuring acacia trees and finishing up field work.

Wednesday and Thursday we stayed in the lab at Mpala Research Center to organize our data, compile the data files, and clean and organize our equipment.  By the end of the trip we measured and collected data on more than 13,000 trees!  Thursday afternoon we had a final meeting with Duncan and John to express our thanks and share highlights.  In the evening we took one last game drive to say farewell to the Kenyan landscape, watching in silence a herd of elephants, impala, hartebeest, and giraffe.  Later we found a safe, open area on the escarpment to get out of the Landrover and enjoy the view of the valley.

Friday we loaded the Landrover with our luggage and completed our last 4 hour drive to Nairobi.  It was a rather quiet and pensive drive; each of us was contemplating our final days in Kenya and processing the impending transition back home. Once we are back in Goshen, we’ll begin the tedious and arduous process of analyzing the data and working toward the publication of our results.

It has been an amazing summer with a pulse and rhythm unique to field work – long days, bumpy roads, surprising sightings, and unexpected vistas.  We were equally grateful for the relationships with John, Duncan, and others in the Laikipia community who welcomed us so genuinely – the students counted this as one of the highlights of the experience.

Perhaps each of us will again receive the gift of experiencing another dawn over Mt. Kenya, the laugh of the hyenas at night, and the morning greetings in Swahili from our colleagues.  Until then we’ll hold on to the images, retell the stories, and dream of our next visit.  Thanks for joining us on the journey.

Ryan on behalf of Donna, Isaac, Mara & the Fire Ecology Research team

Our work Saturday morning took quite a different form as we learned that Ryan had hired a small plane to take aerial photos of several burn plots. Unfortunately, the plane only had room for three passengers, so we decided that Laura and John would accompany Ryan (Laura’s birthday was on Saturday, and John had only been on a plane once before) while the rest of us would watch from the ground. The doors had been taken off for better picture quality, so they were all buckled in tightly and secured before they took off.

They returned more quickly than expected because the cloud cover made photography difficult. Fortunately for Luke and me, this allowed a chance to wait for the sun to come out and take a turn in the plane as well! This flight was much more successful, and we returned with several nice pictures.  On the way back the pilot asked if we wanted to do a fly over of the research center, so instead of landing we zoomed by Isaac and Mara on top of the Land Rover as we passed just 30 meters above the ground; I’m sure we rattled more than a few windows.

The flight was a helpful lesson in how spatial scale affects our view.  Broadening or narrowing the scale at which you view the environment around you allows different ecological observations to be made. When viewing the burn from the ground it is possible to count the individual trees or track the change of ant species, but observations about the environment as a whole are more difficult. Viewing the burn from the air makes it possible to count animal densities across the savanna and to view the heterogeneity of the landscape. As an example, in our short 20 minute flight, we saw elephant, giraffe, lion, and even hyena chasing some gazelle…. sitings which would have been very difficult from the ground.  The decrease in tree densities in the burned sites were also very visible from the air.

We spent the rest of the morning compiling our data into one place and making sure that all of our equipment was in order so that we could go out to the field in the afternoon. Everyone (including Donna and the kids) piled into the Land Rover and we worked on a one hectare patchy burn for the rest of the afternoon.  We ended the day with a game drive at sunset back to the research center finding elephant, hyena, and a lone male buffalo.

David Stoesz for the research team (photos by the entire team)

On Tuesday, Tori’s last day with us, we spent a shorter day in the field, at a more distant site from Mpala.  We were working at Ol Pejeta Ranch, which is roughly a two-hour drive one way.  Since the plot is an 81 hectare burn, we only completed a small fraction of the work there.  However, by lunchtime, all were in high spirits, and we shared some last laughs with Tori over lunch.  We left the field early, in order to return in time for an evening sendoff for Tori.

On our way back, we took a few detours to look for cheetahs, but the most interesting sighting turned out to be a defecating hartebeest (captured on camera by Luke and dung captured in a collection bag by Duncan).  When we were back on Mpala, we stopped to watch a herd of elephants and to take some pictures.  Now that we are getting near the end of our time here, I am trying to photograph more of the spectacular everyday sights here.  I have included several pictures from our outing to an escarpment called Baboon Cliffs.  The great view, evening light, friends, snacks, and drinks helped us enjoy our last day with Tori.

On Wednesday, we three students went to the field with Duncan, John, and Ernest (who is our favorite askari from Segera Ranch).  The Sensenigs went to Nairobi to take Tori to the airport and wrap up some business regarding the Land Rover purchase.  We had a very successful and productive day in the field, completing all of the three main types of data collection in a 1-hectare patchy burn.  We had to race some rainstorms getting home, and nearly got stuck several times.  Duncan was a calm driver, even when the car began to have very odd electrical problems.  The engine would randomly turn off if the windshield wipers were adjusted or the fan turned on.  One time that it wouldn’t start again, Duncan got out in the rain and temporarily fixed the problem.  We thankfully barely made it out of the mud just in time, and the car finally gave up only about 15 minutes from the research center.  We passed our time there waiting for a mechanic by joking, laughing, and taking pictures of the misty hills in the sunset.  We made it back just in time for showers and supper at 7:30.

Thursday and Friday were spent here at the research center, catching up with data entry and catching up with friends.  Our car troubles caused some nice downtime, and a good beginning to our last weekend at Mpala.

- Luke Zehr for the research team  (photos by Luke and David)

John Bayan, one of Ryan’s research assistants since 2004, has become an integral part of our experience here in Laikipia.  We were quickly impressed with his gentle kindness, hard work and his vast knowledge of local grasses, forbs, trees and birds. Last Friday, John invited us to his home for a Maasai naming ceremony of his youngest daughter, who would be named after Donna Shenk Sensenig.

When we arrived at John’s village, he told us the first part of the ceremony was for women only. Donna, Tori, Mara and I got out of the car and were greeted by a group of Maasai women delivering a singing welcome.  Their elaborate beaded jewelry and layers of brightly colored kangas combined with the sound of their voices created one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen here.  The women moved towards us in a group, with a leader guiding the chant. They encircled us and walked with us up to John’s house, singing the whole way.

During a delicious meal of rice, potatoes, beans and chai, we talked with John and learned more about his family and the naming ceremony itself. The Maasai have three different names, each with specific uses and meanings. A sacred name is given to the child at birth, although the parents are the only ones that know this name and rarely use it in daily life. The ceremony we were attending was to present the child with a name the community could use. (For Christians another name is given at baptism.)  After lunch we met John’s parents and his wife, Lisa, and their five children – James, Vanessa, Gideon, Godfrey and (soon to be) Donna.

Part of the ceremony involves cutting the child’s hair, which has not been cut since birth.  Traditionally, the grandmother performs the haircut which takes place on cowhide.  John’s daughter sat on Lisa’s lap as her grandmother poured a mixture of milk and water over her hair. I could tell she had done this for many of her grandchildren; she gently took her head in her hands and skillfully used a single razor blade to shave her hair starting at the crown. John’s daughter was clearly comfortable and close to her grandma; she didn’t cringe or seem scared in the least. Since the ceremony honors women, Tori, Donna, Mara and I were invited to move closer to the women to watch. It was neat to see her reach up to touch her clean shaven head, a new sensation that must have felt strange at first.

After the child’s haircut, John’s mother shaved Lisa’s head, which had likewise been growing since the birth. The combined hair would be buried somewhere else, safely protected. John said people outside the family are prohibited from touching the shaven hair; traditionally others are prohibited to touch the hair from this special first haircut. After both cuts, John’s mother spread red ochre over the child’s head, around Lisa’s chin and neck, and her own neck. She also put a dot on the forehead of Donna, Mara, Tori and I. Later that evening, the name “Donna” would be presented to the community.

It was a tremendous honor to be invited to this special event as honored guests, and was one of the most memorable days of my time in Kenya.  It was humbling for me, a student, to be invited at all – John had only known us for a few weeks. The experience highlighted for me again the importance of respect, family, and prioritizing time and energy into relationships with people from different cultures around the world.

- Laura for the research team

(Photos by Luke and Dave)

On Wednesday, we (Ryan, the four students, Duncan, and John) drove to Segera Ranch, which is a neighboring ranch to Mpala and the location of several of the burned experimental plots.  Ryan and Duncan helped facilitate a day of training for a group of about 15 naturalists who are employed by the Zeitz Foundation at Mpala.  The Zeitz Foundation is a non-profit organization that has as goals sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity.  The international organization was founded in 2008 by Jochem Zeitz, who is the owner of Segera Ranch (and the CEO of Puma).  

Once we arrived at a small meetinghouse at the ranch, our morning began with a round of warm introductions.  Ryan and Duncan both gave short lectures, and we listened.  At teatime, we helped set up a dung identification “quiz” for the naturalists.  It was fun to watch them discuss their knowledge and opinions with each other.  Ryan then followed with pointers to help with the identification of similar scat.  Duncan’s lecture focused more on the importance of monitoring and keeping close and precise records of what is observed in the field, especially with regard to plants.  It was a wonderful experience to listen to this young, Kenyan Ph. D. candidate (who we have gotten to know some during our fieldwork) speak as a teacher.  Another aspect of the day that was special to me was the emphasis that was placed on learning from each other and sharing our enthusiasm for the Kenyan landscape, flora, fauna, and people.

While we were waiting to eat lunch we enjoyed a discussion, sparked by Ryan, about how cultural characteristics play such key roles in the ways people learn.  It had been obvious to us that when Ryan asked questions, most of the naturalists were reluctant to answer because they were conscious of not wanting to seem like they were bettering themselves in front of their friends and colleagues.  Then, when they were free to explore the dung and plant specimens, they became very engaged, inquisitive, and excited, now that they were able to work more as a team.

Also while we were waiting for lunch, we learned that the woman who usually does the cooking there had lost her father in the night, and therefore some of the men would be cooking.  The staff there was apologetic that we had to wait so long for our food, but to me, it was one of those poignant moments in which language differences made me unable to communicate how little I felt they should be worrying about my comfort at such a time.  Our late lunch of ugali was delicious and filling.  Following that, we led all the naturalists in a short experience in one of our burned plots, teaching them some of our methods, and letting them help collect data.  It was fun to watch John throughout the day, especially as he was regarded as the expert that he is by fellow Kenyans.  Our day with them ended with many enthusiastic and thankful goodbyes.  I wished that we could have spent more time with them, to get to know some of them more, and learn more of what they had to teach.

-Luke Zehr, for the team

(photos by Luke and Ryan)

Our days have been filled with lots of data collection and entry, but we have also found time to relax and enjoy the amazing wildlife that surrounds us. To celebrate Isaac’s birthday we all piled into the LandRover and made the hour and a half long trip to Ol Pejeta Conservancy with the hopes of adding some new animals to our lists. The day began quickly with the sighting of a beautiful wild dog loping across the road in scent of its prey. Throughout the day we also saw plenty of birds, gazelle, giraffe, and a huge herd of buffalo.

We followed the game viewing with drinks at Sweetwaters tented camp and then packed up to do a little field work at a burn plot nearby. Everyone helped collect data on the acacia trees, and the kids used the walkie-talkies to shout out the data across the bush.

After packing up, we took the advice of one of the Ol Pejeta rangers and headed off to a nearby dam where we found a pride of lions sitting only yards from the road! At first, only a few females were visible, but soon four small cubs appeared from the brush and scampered around as we watched. Their play was cut short when the male emerged from the nearby grass, and they hurried off to play out of sight of their father. From there we headed home, a great end to Isaac’s birthday.

- David Stoesz for the research team

(Photos by Dave, Ryan, and Luke)

Tori, David and I laced up our hiking boots again this past Sunday, but this time it wasn’t for field work. We joined some other researchers here at Mpala in a morning hike up MuKenya (“Little Kenya,” and Mpala’s highest point).

Since we drove right up to the bottom of the boulder formations, the hike was quick yet steep. We stopped fairly often to point out forbs, grasses or trees that we proudly knew the scientific names of, and also look closer at new trees and flowers. The GC research team is now conditioned to spot elephant damage in trees, so we were impressed to see how far up elephants climb to twist off tasty acacia branches as they forage.

The top of the climb rewarded hikers with a magnificent, panoramic view of the savannah landscape. We could see elephants moving across the river in the distance and hear them trumpeting from afar, though they looked like miniature toys from atop MuKenya. From a boulder below, some friends pointed out a troop of baboons scrambling on some nearby cliffs.  We had a blast lying out on the rocks, drinking in the view and taking pictures with these fellow researchers who have now become friends.

The fun wasn’t quite over though; on our drive back, the askari’s (ranch guards that accompany us on such outings) led us through a thick, jungle-like path to a cliff-side waterfall. The inside of this cliff was covered in pictographs that looked like painted swirls and designs. We learned one circular, striped imprint was actually the remains of a beehive that had fallen or been removed.  After a solid morning of hiking and pseudo-spelunking, Sunday lunch was especially welcome.

- Laura Schlabach for the research team – (Photos by David Stoesz)

The first day I arrived at the Mpala Research Center I remember asking a fellow researcher what sorts of animals she had seen in the field that day.  She responded with “Oh, just the regular: zebras, giraffes, some elephants.”  I could not believe the nonchalance in her tone of voice. It is true, we see these animals almost daily. This does not, however, diminish our sense of wonder at these close encounters.

Last week Laura and I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with Grant’s gazelles by helping another researcher for the morning.  That day the gazelle research team was conducting a capture, during which gazelles were caught via a net gun from a helicopter and then carried to the waiting research team.  Laura and I observed as the team took various measurements of the gazelle, collared, and released it.  We were able to help by holding the gazelle down, taking hair samples from the gazelle, and holding the flashlight while others removed ticks from the gazelle’s ears.

Living here at the Mpala Research Center affords additional wildlife interactions.  Every morning at 7:05 on the dot a Hornbill (think Zazu from the Lion King) awakens David and Luke by tapping at their bedroom window.  A couple days ago a vervet monkey attempted to break into the room in which Laura and I sleep, and spitefully peed in our sink before our roommate could chase it away.  Some of the more epic animal activity occurred while we were sleeping three nights ago.  A leopard killed a waterbuck near the research center, the leopard was then bullied away from the kill by several lions, who were in turn chased off by a pack of hyenas.  Many folks heard the hyena howls and lion roars from their bandas.

Especially awesome are the wildlife encounters that occur while we are on foot in the field.  Today while we were conducting research at a neighboring ranch, an entire herd of elephants decided to amble straight toward our research plot.  Without the metal doors of the land rover surrounding us there was nothing to do but walk quickly away and wait for them to pass through.  All of these encounters have made me feel as I imagine the early humans living in the African savannah must have felt-part of nature, and not the most powerful part.

- Tori Yoder for the team

While Ryan and his assistants began to record post-burn data in 2004, they noticed a curious pattern – elephants seemed to push over trees more in burned areas than unburned areas.

Elephant feeding (foreground) which opens area for grazers

Our current field work hopes to answer whether elephants choose to browse more heavily in burned areas, and perhaps figure out why.  We are currently using belt transects to quantify the numbers and sizes of the most common tree, Whistling Thorn. We run 10 meter wide transects across the entirety of the burn (the transect of a 9 hectare burn runs 400 meters); every tree within the 10 meter wide transect is then recorded for height, diameter at 15 centimeters, presence of old or new elephant damage, and species of ants which occupy the galls on the trees – many acacia trees have symbiotic relationships with ant species that actively defend the tree from herbivory… more on this in a later blog!

When this data is compiled it can be used to address a variety of different ecosystem relationships. Most directly, it will show to what degree elephants perceive size and heterogeneity of burn patches. That is, are they found most often in large or small burns, and do they perceive patchy burns as one continuous burn or several different burns?

In an area of Kenya dominated by large cattle ranches, this relationship can prove essential to land management. Some ranch owners devote areas to cattle grazing only, and fence out all other animals while other ranches allow wildlife and cattle to graze together. With either method, fire (either prescribed or accidental) continues to play an active role. Elephant browsing in burned areas can greatly reduce the size and density of acacia trees and create open “hotspots” of grazing where animals feel safer foraging.  It seems that using fire alone (without browsing by elephants) does not appreciably decrease the densities of acacias – these thickly treed areas are therefore less useful for grazing.

- David Stoesz for the research team

Eighty-one hectare patchy burn, completed in 2004

While romping around in the savannah measuring acacia trees and trying to avoid being trampled by elephants is indeed stimulating in itself, what does all this research mean? What’s the point of fire in an African savannah? Answering this means taking a step back and looking first at the ecological concepts between fire and grazing.

Fire is a natural process in savanna ecosystems that has likely been one of the driving forces of evolution in this part of the world.  The idea is that fires remove old, dry, unpalatable plant parts, and allow for young, tender, nutritious herbivore food to grow.  However, fire does not do this everywhere in a regular pattern, so there exists a significant quality of “patchiness” across the landscape.  Herbivores are thought to perceive the landscape around them at a scale that is relevant to the size of their body.  Therefore, the patchiness in quality and quantity of food resources, created by fire and other dynamics, is likely a significant reason that so many similar animals (at least 30 species of mammalian herbivores live here) are able to thrive on what appears to be the same type of food and habitat.

In 2004 and 2005, Ryan and a large team of field assistants conducted 16 total burns in four different ranches in Laikipia. Burns were 1, 9 or 81-hectares and burned in a patchy formation or a continuous burn. Our current research involves revisting many of these 16 sites and assessing the tree growth and elephant damage that has occured since then, but more on that in another blog.

Part of understanding grazing patterns is looking at how herbivores digest their food, which directly affects which grasses and forbs they prefer to eat. Smaller herbivores, like hares and gazelle, graze on higher quality, rarer grasses and forbs because they have a high metabolism. Because they digest at a fast rate, they need simpler, higher-quality foods that digest quickly and easily. Larger animals however, like zebras, can handle tougher, lower-quality grasses with lots of cellulose (tough to digest). Their digestive systems are designed to slowly break down the tough cellulose, while the smaller animals’ digestive systems cannot.

Our research involves tracking which habitat animals choose to graze in. In his previous research, counting which animals’ dung appeared most often showed that the smaller animals preferred the fresh re-growth that sprouted up after the burns took place. Larger animals however, continued to graze mostly in unburned territories because they don’t require the easily digestible sprouts of grass like small herbivores do. Fires could enhance grazing diversity in this way. And furthermore, fires could be a way for humans to interact with the environment in a positive way, promoting heterogeneity in a landscape and creating biodiversity.

We’ll keep you updated on our findings!

- Laura Schlabach & Luke Zehr for the fire ecology team