LTREB RENEWAL: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Scaling up and scaling out at the Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE)

肯尼亚长期围栏实验(KLEE)成立于1995年，目的是研究牲畜和野生动物对彼此以及对它们共享的土地的单独和综合影响。这种对牛、野生动物和大型食草动物的受控排斥提供了一个独特的实验环境，在这个环境中回答了关于半干旱生态系统的生态学、保护和管理的基本和应用问题。未来五年收集的数据将加强对土壤、植物和食草动物对多年天气周期的反应的了解，重点是降雨量的变化。其他实验将确定树木密度变化的原因和后果，包括生态水文和生态生理研究。有必要继续这一长期实验，以捕捉对稀树草原生态系统功能至关重要的缓慢发展的过程和年际变化。在全球范围内，随着野生动物变得更加依赖牧场生存，牧场管理和生物多样性保护的目标发生冲突的频率越来越高。通过研究野生动物和牲畜共存的条件，该项目的结果直接为这些相互冲突的目标提供了和解信息。这项研究吸引了来自多个机构的合作科学家，并培训肯尼亚和美国学生进行研究。该研究区拥有来自肯尼亚、美国和其他国际合作国家的本科生研究项目和班级访问。

The Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE) was established in 1995 to examine the separate and combined effects of livestock and wildlife on each other and on the land they share. This controlled exclusion of cattle, wildlife, and large herbivores provides a unique experimental setting in which to answer basic and applied questions about the ecology, conservation, and management of semi-arid ecosystems. Data collected over the next five years will enhance understanding of soil, plant, and herbivore responses to multi-year weather cycles, with an emphasis on variation in rainfall. Additional experiments will determine the causes and consequences of variation in tree densities and include both eco-hydrological and eco-physiological studies. Continuation of this long-term experiment is necessary to capture the slowly-developing processes and interannual variation that are critical to ecosystem function in savanna landscapes. Globally, the goals of rangeland management and biodiversity conservation collide with increasing frequency, as wildlife become more dependent on rangeland for survival. By examining the conditions under which wildlife and livestock co-exist, results from this project directly inform a reconciliation of these conflicting goals. The study attracts collaborating scientists from multiple institutions and trains both Kenyan and US students in research. The study plots host undergraduate research projects and class visits from Kenya, the United States, and other international collaborating countries.