Above: Island forests on Mathews Range in the drylands of northern Kenya. Copyright Luca Borghesio
Part 2 of 3
A little-known mountain range with one of the least disturbed forests in north Kenya makes for exciting long term research in forest dynamics
Dynamics of the Forest
“People tend to think of forests as never changing,” continues Borghesio. “But forests change a lot and quite fast.”

Sunlight pours through gaps created by ancient trees crashing at the end of their life span bringing down other trees with them. Voracious safari ants march through the litter of leaves and dead trees munching them into fine particles. Elephant dung shows a healthy population but the black rhino – the last known free ranging ones of the north died out in the late 1990s. Its calcium-white bones lie quietly in the forest glade. “A century ago, this was more open because the elephant and rhinos ate the bush. There are reports of 20 rhino seen in a day. With the demise of the herbivores, the land that was much more grassland is more bush now.” The cyclic change of forest reverting to bushland and opening into grassland for smaller herbivores and back to forest in tandem with the ancient movement of the elephant migrations is an ancient cycle.
Borghesio begins his narration of the forest with a time in the distant past, when the forest was much more open than now, stimulating the germination of light-demanding trees such as Cordia and Croton. More than a century later, these trees have grown to remarkable sizes. “Based upon this, we can speculate that the forest at that time was kept more open by higher densities of wildlife,” he says.
Soaring to the heavens, the towering croton trees seem healthy but for the scientist and his team of field assistants and Samburu aides, they recognize the signs of stress and the major die-back caused by the drought of 2009. “The trees survived the drought but in the following years we saw the death of large trees at a rate above the normal. The effect of drought can go on for many years,” continues Borghesio.

Drought is nothing new in this part of the world for northern Kenya is mostly arid with little rainfall. “There were droughts in 2004, 2009, 2010 and 2011. What we’re seeing is increasing droughts in the last ten years whereas prior to that the droughts occurred once every ten years.”
Lawrence Wagura the field assistant carefully untangles a Yellow-whiskered Greenbul from the mist nest to record the ring around its tarsus. From the data over the last six years, its numbers have been fluctuating. The data from the many species of birds give an interesting insight to the happenings in the forests.

“Frugivores like Yellow-whiskered Greenbuls numbers will fluctuate from year to year depending on the fruit availability,” explains Borghesio. “These are not new birds because we’re seeing them after two years which indicates that these birds don’t die but move through the forest. But for the Abyssinian ground-thrush that’s very territorial and moves little inside the forest, things are tough showing an 80 per cent decrease in eight years. On the other hand, the insectivorous Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher is a strict forest bird which during the drought moves higher up the mountain to the forest. But what we’re seeing now are non-forest bird species increasing in numbers like the Grey-backed Camaroptera, a widespread bird outside the forest whose population has increased following a series of droughts.
“Some bird species will increase and others will decrease depending on the forest changes. A five-year frame gives us some perception of the changes while a one-year frame is a static picture of the forest,” reflects the scientist. “What we don’t know is if the demise of species and increase of others are long or short term changes. Will there be a demise of species with recurrent droughts?” he ponders.

Customer
buy zithromax online cheap cheap zithromax
https://stromectol.science/# ivermectin generic
[url=https://zithromax.science/#]generic zithromax[/url] zithromax online australia
Customer
https://doxycycline.science/# doxycycline online
[url=https://zithromax.science/#]generic zithromax[/url] zithromax buy online
Customer
Для сео приветствуются ссылки из соцсетей и комментариев пользователей, статей и
заметок блогеров, тематических проектов и т.
д.
Customer
Holymoly that’s crazy man! Thank you so much I really appreciate
for this man. Can i tell you my ways on change your life and if you want
to have a glance? I will definitly share info about how to make passive income I will be the
one showing values from now on.
Customer
I think this is one of the most significant information for me.
And i’m glad reading your article. But wanna remark on some general things, The web
site style is great, the articles is really excellent : D.
Good job, cheers
https://exipuredietreview.godaddysites.com/
https://theomnibuzz.com/exipure-2023/
https://www.homify.co.uk/ideabooks/9224942/exipure
https://writeablog.net/exipurepilsreview/exipure-pils-review
https://virgool.io/@exipure1/
https://www.applyfirst.ca/employers/1707552-exipure-pils-review
https://www.coffeejobs.com/employers/1707532-exipure
https://www.pythonjobshq.com/employers/1707520-exipure-2023
https://www.heavyironjobs.com/employers/1707500-exipure
https://collab.sundance.org/people/Exipure-2023-1674727953
Customer
stromectol cream ivermectin 2% or ivermectin buy online
http://cpjacobs.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectol.science ivermectin 1
[url=http://worldmusicianfinder.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectol.science]stromectol 3mg tablets[/url] where can i buy stromectol and [url=http://www.aipeople.com.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=1920497]ivermectin 6mg dosage[/url] order minocycline 100mg online
Customer
doxycycline 100mg tablets buy doxycycline online without prescription or generic doxycycline
http://www.sonnets.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=doxycycline.science doxycycline hyclate 100 mg cap
[url=http://affcu.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=doxycycline.science]doxycycline hydrochloride 100mg[/url] doxylin and [url=https://98e.fun/space-uid-4443655.html]doxycycline pills[/url] 100mg doxycycline
Customer
buy doxycycline cheap doxy or generic doxycycline
http://sumteroperahouse.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=doxycycline.science online doxycycline
[url=http://thenextgreatsound.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=doxycycline.science]doxycycline 100mg capsules[/url] buy generic doxycycline and [url=http://zgtxcc.com/space-uid-789407.html]doxycycline generic[/url] doxycycline vibramycin
Customer
Hello, its nice piece of writing about media print, we all
be familiar with media is a fantastic source of facts.
Customer
What is the optimal duration of antibiotic therapy for necrotizing infections generic over the counter clomid at walmart 2005, 280 637 643
Customer
can i buy amoxicillin online amoxicillin capsule 500mg price or amoxicillin no prescipion
http://kyhumane.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=amoxil.science buy amoxicillin from canada
[url=http://eachconversationmatters.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=amoxil.science]amoxicillin 30 capsules price[/url] amoxicillin discount and [url=http://bot888.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=1972]where to buy amoxicillin 500mg[/url] amoxicillin pills 500 mg
Customer
amoxicillin 500 mg without prescription amoxil
https://zithromax.science/# zithromax 500mg over the counter
[url=https://zithromax.science/#]zithromax for sale[/url] buy generic zithromax no prescription
Customer
https://zithromax.science/# zithromax 500 price
Customer
Good day I am so grateful I found your weblog, I really found you
by mistake, while I was browsing on Google for something else,
Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a
marvelous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to
read it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more,
Please do keep up the great jo.
Customer
zithromax for sale online buy zithromax
https://zithromax.science/# zithromax z-pak price without insurance
[url=https://doxycycline.science/#]doxycycline hyc[/url] order doxycycline online
Customer
zithromax z-pak zithromax price canada or zithromax 1000 mg pills
http://ga-gal.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=zithromax.science zithromax 500 mg lowest price online
[url=http://emotika.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=zithromax.science]zithromax 500mg[/url] zithromax azithromycin and [url=http://www.lntoxicated.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=186382]zithromax buy online no prescription[/url] azithromycin zithromax
Customer
Hello would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re utilizing?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a
lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good hosting provider at
a fair price? Cheers, I appreciate it!
Customer
cialis online He received his academic degrees from AMU, Aligarh, India and completed post doctoral training at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Customer
The medications administered in the initial and the subsequent cross over phase were given for 4 to 6 cycles except in those patients who achieved pregnancy within the first three cycles of treatment clomiphene citrate 50 mg for men
Customer
Hi! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues with hackers?
My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing a few
months of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?