Ongoing Research at Mpala

images from different mpala research projects

Mpala has a 30-year history of research that strives to find solutions to humanity's most pressing crises. Situated in a semi-arid savannah in northern Kenya, many of the center's long-term projects investigate ecological issues surrounding wildlife, ecology and land stewardship.

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Peer-reviewed publications

Researchers at Mpala have made immense contributions to the scientific community. Groundbreaking research includes the Kenya Long-Term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE), the most productive field experiment ever conducted in Africa.

Staff Scientists

Mpala employs on-site scientists to help visiting students and scholars process data, utilize laboratory equipment, and streamline research processes.

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Field-Based Genomics Lab

Mpala has one of the only field-based genomics labs in the region.

Faculty: Get Involved

Learn about how to initiate a research project at Mpala, send advisees, and more ...

Students: Get Involved

Learn about how to join or initiate a research project at Mpala

Ongoing Research Projects

Discover current long-term research projects at Mpala below. Some of these projects are Princeton-led, while others are led by researchers from other institutions across the globe.

Ongoing research

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Ungulate Herbivory Under Rainfall Uncertainty

UHURU, a Princeton-led project, uses large-scale plots and electric fences to simulate size-based mammal extinctions but is distributed across a rainfall gradient.

Wildlife Behavior, Ecology and Ranging in Relation to Vegetation, Predation and Livestock in the Greater Laikipia-Samburu Ecosystem

This Princeton-led project primarily focuses on continual research on the endangered Grevy’s zebra ecology.

Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE)

The KLEE experiment consists of 18 four-hectare plots in three replicate blocks. In each block, they use different semi-permeable barriers to exclude six combinations of cattle, wildlife, and mega-herbivores

ForestGEO

ForestGEO spans 29 countries, focused on understanding the development and maintenance of biodiversity and our ability to evaluate and respond to the impacts of global climate change.

Two field scientists studying buffelgrass

Buffelgrass Release Experiment

Researchers investigate knocking out natural enemies and stressors of buffelgrass in its home range (Kenya), in order to understand why the grass is so successful in introduced rangelands, pan-tropically.

Samburu-Laikipia Wild Dog Project

This project is concerned with studying approaches for the sustainable coexistence of people, livestock, cheetahs and wild dogs.

Baboon Research Project

The project aims to understand how social processes structure sleep patterns in individuals, groups, and populations and test how gregarious animals navigate the opportunities and constraints imposed by sleeping as part of a group.

Vulturine Guineafowl Project

This project seeks to better understand Vulturine Guineafowl's social structure and decision-making

Ant-Acacia Mutualism

This project works to understand how ant species and density in the inhabitation of acacia domatia influences the overal fungal communities and microbiome within the tree.