Project BASEPAIR:
Barcoding A Savanna Ecosystem: Plant-Animal InterRelationships
In 2012, Tyler Kartzinel and Rob Pringle co-founded a research project to improve our understanding of what, exactly, large herbivores eat at Mpala Research Centre and Conservancy in Kenya. This effort has developed into Project BASEPAIR*, a long-term and large-scale research program focusing on the dynamics of the entire mammalian food web at Mpala and the surrounding landscape of Laikipia—including herbivores and omnivores and predators that range in size from mice to elephants.
To overcome traditional difficulties of precisely characterizing the diets of free-ranging animals, we employ molecular dietary analyses. The approach begins with DNA barcoding, which involves collecting specimens of food plants and animals, having them identified by taxonomic experts, and obtaining reference DNA sequences from them (in collaboration with scientists at the National Museums of Kenya and the Smithsonian Institution). We then match these reference DNA sequences with sequence data from fecal samples to generate diet profiles for individual animals—a process known as DNA meta-barcoding.
This approach quickly began to illuminate highly detailed patterns of food selection and niche partitioning by wildlife and livestock. See, for example, the results of Kartzinel et al. (2015) and commentary by Tilman & Borer (2015).
Through analysis of DNA-based dietary profiles, we can quantify spatial and temporal variability in trophic interactions. We can account for dietary variability within populations, and even within individual animals, across the seasons. Increasingly, we can leverage large-scale experimental manipulations of resource availability to characterize how food webs respond to perturbations. We can work with local pastoral communities, commercial ranches, and conservancies to understand how different livestock management strategies impact plant-herbivore interactions.
Current funding includes NSF DEB award 1930820. See MpalaLive for live video from the Hippo Pools at our main study site, where it is often possible to watch wildlife and see a bit of what they eat.
To overcome traditional difficulties of precisely characterizing the diets of free-ranging animals, we employ molecular dietary analyses. The approach begins with DNA barcoding, which involves collecting specimens of food plants and animals, having them identified by taxonomic experts, and obtaining reference DNA sequences from them (in collaboration with scientists at the National Museums of Kenya and the Smithsonian Institution). We then match these reference DNA sequences with sequence data from fecal samples to generate diet profiles for individual animals—a process known as DNA meta-barcoding.
This approach quickly began to illuminate highly detailed patterns of food selection and niche partitioning by wildlife and livestock. See, for example, the results of Kartzinel et al. (2015) and commentary by Tilman & Borer (2015).
Through analysis of DNA-based dietary profiles, we can quantify spatial and temporal variability in trophic interactions. We can account for dietary variability within populations, and even within individual animals, across the seasons. Increasingly, we can leverage large-scale experimental manipulations of resource availability to characterize how food webs respond to perturbations. We can work with local pastoral communities, commercial ranches, and conservancies to understand how different livestock management strategies impact plant-herbivore interactions.
Current funding includes NSF DEB award 1930820. See MpalaLive for live video from the Hippo Pools at our main study site, where it is often possible to watch wildlife and see a bit of what they eat.
External Collaborators
Adam Ferguson, Jake Goheen, John Kress, Paul Musili, Rob Pringle, Dan Rubenstein
*Special thanks to Truman Young for proposing the BASEPAIR acronym.
*Special thanks to Truman Young for proposing the BASEPAIR acronym.
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