Summer Environmental StudyNoah Hanisch

Large Mammalian Herbivore Impacts on African Savanna Plant Defenses Across Individual, Population and Community Scales.

The goal of the proposed research is to investigate how physically defended savanna plant species respond to changes in herbivory pressure using a long-term herbivore exclusion experiment at Mpala Research Centre (MRC; Laikipia, Kenya). I will use a combination of experimental long-term data and new data collection to compare changes in physical defense investment and plant communities inside and outside of the herbivore exclosures. In Aim 1, I will examine whether individual plant species invest less in physical defenses under herbivore exclusion. In Aim 2, I will use a 16-year plant composition dataset to assess whether plant communities become less defended under herbivore exclusion due to the replacement of physically defended species with non-defended species.