Research Projects

Ongoing scientific research at Mpala

Vulturine Guineafowl Project

Vulturine guineafowl (Acryllium vulturinum) are the largest species of guineafowl and are highly social, exhibiting distinct decision-making structures. This project seeks to better understand their…

Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE)

The Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE) was established in 1995 to determine the separate and combined effects on savanna ecology of herbivory by cattle, wildlife, and separately,…

Samburu-Laikipia Wild Dog Project

The survival of cheetahs and wild dogs depends upon sharing the African landscape with people and livestock, and this project is concerned with studying approaches…

Princeton Zebra Project

This project primarily focuses on continual research on the endangered Grevy’s zebra ecology. Before the Mpala Research Centre came into existence, Dr. Daniel Rubenstein studied…

Smithsonian vets

The Smithsonian‘s conservation biology global health programme One Health runs at Mpala Research Centre, in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Services and Ol Jogi Wildlife Conservancy….

Turkana Genomics Project

In a blink of evolutionary time, humans have explored every corner of this planet and as a species have shown an amazing capacity to adapt…

ForestGEO

The first Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) plot was established in 1980 on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Over the years, the ForestGEO program has expanded…

Buffelgrass

Invasive grass natural stressor releaseInvasion of exotic organisms is considered the second leading cause of loss of global biodiversity after habitat alteration. Therefore, understanding the…