Staff Profiles

Karatina University

Dr. Duncan Kimuyu

Senior Lecturer

School of Natural Resources & Environmental Studies

Department of Natural Resources

 

Email Address

dkimuyu@karu.ac.ke

 

Area/ Field of specialization: Wildlife Ecology and Management

Research interests: Ecology

Research Links:

orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6077-4970

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=h4bnGYgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Biography

Dr. Duncan Kimuyu is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Natural Resources at Karatina University, Kenya. Duncan’s has a solid background in field Ecology and his research focuses on responses of wildlife biodiversity to anthropogenic drivers of change such as prescribed fires, extirpation of large mammals, and intensification in livestock grazing. His research has opened up new ways of thinking about livestock, wildlife, and fire management in rangelands.

Publications

Pringle R.M, Abraham J.O, Anderson T.M, Coverdale T.C, Davies A.B, Dutton C.L, Gaylard A, Goheen J.R, Holdo R.M, Hutchinson M.C, Kimuyu D.M, …Veldhuis M.P (2023) Impacts of large herbivores on terrestrial ecosystems. Current Biology 33, 584-610. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.024

Ang’ila R.O, Kimuyu D.M, Wambugu G.M, Kenfack D, Musili P.M, Kartzinel T.R (2023) Fine-scale variation in soil and topography influences herbaceous vegetation and the distribution of large mammalian herbivores, African Journal of Ecology, 00, 1– 11. https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.13166

Ngugi, M. W., Kimuyu, D. M., Sensenig, R. L., Odadi, W. O., Kiboi, S. K., Omari, J. K., & Young, T. P. (2022). Fire and Herbivory Interactively Suppress the Survival and Growth of Trees in an African Semiarid Savanna. Fire, 5(5), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire5050169

Wells, H.B.M., Crego R.D, Alston J.M, Ndung’u S.K, Khasoha L.M, Reed C.G, Hassan A.A, Kurukura S, JEkadeli J, Namoni M, Stewart P.S, Kimuyu D.M, Wolf A.A, Young T.P, Kartzinel T.R, Palmer T.M, Goheen J.R, Pringle R.M (2022) Wild herbivores enhance resistance to invasion by exotic cacti in an African savanna. Journal of Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14010

Govender, N., Staver, C., Archibald, S., Wigley-Coetsee, C., Strydom, T., Humphrey, G., & Kimuyu, D.M. (2022). Lessons from a century of evidence-based fire management in grassy ecosystems. African Journal of Range & Forage Science, 39(1), v–vii. https://doi.org/10.2989/10220119.2022.2035489

Ebel CR, Case MF, Werner CM, Porensky LM, Veblen KE, Wells HBM, Kimuyu D.M, Langendorf RE, Young TP and Hallett LM (2022) Herbivory and Drought Reduce the Temporal Stability of Herbaceous Cover by Increasing Synchrony in a Semi-arid Savanna.  Ecol. Evol. 10:867051. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.867051

Freeman, P.T.; Ang’ila, R.O.; Kimuyu, D.M; Musili, P.M.; Kenfack, D.; Lokeny Etelej, P.; Magid, M.; Gill, B.A.; Kartzinel, T.R. (2022) Gradients in the Diversity of Plants and Large Herbivores Revealed with DNA Barcoding in a Semi-Arid African Savanna. Diversity2022, 14, 219. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14030219

Wells H.B.M, Crego R, Ekadeli J., Namoni M, Kimuyu D.M, Odadi W., Porensky L, Dougill A.J., Stringer L., Young T (2022) Less is more: Lowering cattle stocking rates enhances wild herbivore habitat use and cattle foraging efficiency. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10:825689. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.825689

Young, T. P., Kimuyu, D.M., Veblen, K. E., Riginos, C., Sitters, J., Porensky, L., & Odadi, W. O. (2022). Elephants Mitigate the Effects of Cattle on Wildlife and Other Ecosystem Traits: Experimental Evidence. Proceedings of the XXIV International Grassland Congress. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/24/4-2/2

Young, T., Kimuyu, D.M, LaMalfa, E., Werner, C., Jones, C., Masudi, P., Ang’ila, R., Sensenig, R., (2022) The effects of large mammalian herbivory, previous fire, and year of burn on fire behavior in an African savanna. Ecosphere, 13 (3): e3980. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3980

Sperandii, M.G., F. de Bello, E. Valencia, L. Götzenberger, M. Bazzichetto, T. Galland, A. E-Vojtkó, L. Conti, P.B. Adler, J. Danihelka, J. Dengler, D.J. Eldridge, M. Estiarte, R. García-González, E. Garnier, D. Gómez, S. Harrison, T. Herben, R. Ibáñez, A. Jentsch, Norbert Juergens, M. Kertész, M. Kimuyu, K. Klumpp, F. Louault, R.H. Marrs, G. Ónodi, R,J. Pakeman, M. Pärtel, B. Peco, J. Peñuelas, M. Rueda, W. Schmidt, U. Schmiedel, M. Schuetz, H. Skalova, P. Šmilauer, M. Šmilauerová, C. Smit, M.-H. Song, M. Stock, J. Val, V. Vandvik,  K. Wesche, S.K. Wiser, B.A. Woodcock, T.P. Young, F.-H. Yu, M. Zobel, and J. Lepš. (2022) LOTVS: a global collection of permanent vegetation plots. Journal of Vegetation Science, 33:e13115: https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.13115

Rabideau-Childers, R., Angier, K. I. W., Dean, B. Z. M., Blumstein, M., Darling, W. S., Kennedy-Yoon, A., Ziemke, C. H., Perez-Martinez, C. A., Wu, D., Ye, W., Yekwayo, I., Kimuyu, D. M., Martins, D. J., & Pierce, N. E. (2021). Evidence of nutrient translocation in response to smoke exposure by the East African ant acacia, Vachellia drepanolobium. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e8244. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8244

Wells, H.B.M., R.D. Crego, Ø.H. Opedal, L.M. Khasoha, J.M. Alston, C.G. Reed, S. Weiner, S. Kurukura, A.A. Hassan, M. Namoni, J. Ekadeli, M. Kimuyu, T.P. Young, T.R. Kartzinel, T.M. Palmer, R.M. Pringle, J.R. Goheen. 2021. Experimental evidence that effects of megaherbivores on mesoherbivore space use are influenced by species’ traits. Journal of Animal Ecology, 90(11):2510-2522 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13565

Kenfack, D., Arellano, G., Kibet, S., Kimuyu, D., & Musili, P. (2021). Understanding the monodominance of Acacia drepanolobium in East African savannas: Insights from demographic data. Trees 35:1439–1450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-021-02127-6

Young, T.P., Kimuyu, D.M. Odadi, W.O., Wells H.B.M. & Wolf A.A. (2021). Naïve plant communities and individuals may initially suffer in the face of reintroduced megafauna: an experimental exploration of rewilding from an African savanna rangeland. PLOSOne, 16(4)  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248855

Charles, G.K., Riginos C., Veblen K.E., Kimuyu K. & Young T.P. (2021). Termite mound cover and abundance respond to herbivore-mediated biotic changes in an African savanna. Evolution & Ecology 11(12), 7226-7238. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7445

Wells, H.B.M., KimuyuM, Odadi, W.O., Young, T.P., Dougill, A.J. and Stringer. L.C. (2021). Wild and domestic savanna herbivores increase smaller vertebrate diversity, but less than additively. Journal of Applied Ecology 58(5) 953-963. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13843

Werner C.M., Kimuyu, D.M, Veblen K.E, Sensenig R.L, LaMalfa E., and Young T.P. (2021) Synergistic effects of long-term herbivory and previous fire on fine-scale heterogeneity of prescribed grasland burns. Ecology 102(4) e03270: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3270

Isbell L.A, Bidner L.R, Loftus J.C, Kimuyu D.M, Young T.P (2021) Absentee owners and overlapping home ranges in a territorial species. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 75(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-02945-7

Kimuyu, D.M., Kenfack, D., Musili, P. M., & Ang’ila, R.O. (2021). Fine-scale habitat heterogeneity influences browsing damage by elephant and giraffe. Biotropica, 53(1), 86–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12848

Ferguson, A.W., Muloi, D., Ngatia, D.K., Kiongo, W., Kimuyu, D.M., Webala, P.W., . . Martins, D.J. (2020). Volunteer based approach to dog vaccination campaigns to eliminate human rabies: Lessons from Laikipia County, Kenya. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 14(7), e0008260. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008260

Sitters, J., Kimuyu, D.M., Young, T.P., Claeys, P., & Olde Venterink, H. (2020). Negative effects of cattle on soil carbon and nutrient pools reversed by megaherbivores. Nature Sustainability, 3(5), 360-366. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0490-0

LaMalfa E., Kimuyu D.M., Sensenig R.L., Young T.P, Riginos C., and Veblen K.E. (2019) Tree resprout dynamics following fire depend on herbivory by wild ungulate herbivores. Journal of Ecology, 2493-2502 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13186

Goheen J.R., Augustine D.J., VeblenK.E., Kimuyu D.M., Palmer T.M., Porensky M., … Young, T.P. (2018) Conservation lessons from large-mammal manipulations in East African savannas: the KLEE, UHURU, and GLADE experiments. Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences, 1429: 31-49. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13848

Young T.P., Porensky L.M, Riginos C., Veblen K.E., Odadi W.O, Kimuyu D.M., Charles G.K., Young H.S. (2018) Relationships Between Cattle and Biodiversity in Multiuse Landscape Revealed by Kenya Long-Term Exclosure Experiment. Rangeland Ecology and Management 71(3): 281-291 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2018.01.005

Tucker, M. A., Böhning-Gaese, K., Fagan, W. F., Fryxell, J. M., Moorter, B. V., Alberts, S. C., Ali, A. H., Allen, A. M., Attias, N., Avgar, T., Bartlam-Brooks, H., Bayarbaatar, B., Belant, J. L., Bertassoni, A., Beyer, D., Bidner, L., Beest, F. M. van, Blake, S., Blaum, N., … Mueller, T. (2018). Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements. Science, 359(6374), 466–469. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam9712