[Biography] [Basel staff page] [KITE at York ] [Publications] [Contact Info]

Geoecology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel
Klingelbergstrasse 27
4056 Basel
Switzerland

Publication List

Courtney-Mustaphi CJ, Goldman N, Ebner J, Rey F, Wick L, Grudzinska-Elsberga I, Lapellegerie P, Dwileski A, Urs Leuzinger, Brem H, Heiri O. 2022. Lake sediment coring in Switzerland. KUMiT project: Geoecology, University of Basel; Office for Archaeology Canton Thurgau, Switzerland. 2m26s.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles:

Courtney-Mustaphi C, Steiner E, von Fumetti S, Heiri O. Accepted 2023. Aquatic invertebrate mandibles and sclerotized remains in Quaternary lake sediments. Journal of Paleolimnology.

Sayedi S, et al. Accepted 2023. Assessing changes in global fire regimes. Fire Ecology.

Wienhues G, Temoltzin-Loranca Y, Vogel H, Morlock MA, Anselmetti FS, Bernasconi SM, Jaggi M, Tylmann W, Kishe M, King L, Ngoepe N, Courtney-Mustaphi CJ, Muschick M, Matthews B, Mwaiko S, Seehausen O, Tinner W, Grosjean M. Accepted 2023. From desiccation to wetlands and outflow: rapid re-filling of Lake Victoria during the Late Pleistocene 14 – 13 ka. Journal of Great Lakes Research.

Ngoepe N, et al. A continuous 17ka fish fossil record from Lake Victoria reveals key insights into the beginnings of adaptive radiation. Nature.

Courtney Mustaphi CJ. accepted 2023. Book Review: Europeans in British Administered East Africa, A Biographical Listing 1888–1910, 4th Edition. Journal of the Geographical Association of Tanzania.

Kulkarni C, Jara IA, Chevalier M, Isa AA, Alinezhad K, Brugger SO, Bunbury MME, Cordero-Oviedo C, Courtney-Mustaphi C, Echeverría-Galindo P, Ensafi Moghaddam T, Ferrara V, Garcia-Rodriguez F, Gitau P, Hannaford M, Herbert A, Hernández A, Jalali B, Jha DK, Kinyanjui RN, Koren G, Mackay H, Mansilla CA, Margalef O, Mukhopadhyay S, Onafeso O, Riris P, Rodriguez-Abaunza A, Rodríguez-Zorro P, Saeidi S, Ratnayake S, Seitz C, Spate M, Vásquez C, Benito X. 2023. pSESYNTH project: Community mobilization for a multi-disciplinary paleo database of the Global South. PAGES Past Global Changes Magazine 31(1) 30–31.

Sayedi S, et al. Assessing changes in global fire regimes. bioRxiv 2023.02.07.527551 [open access preprint]. DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.07.527551

Temoltzin-Loranca Y, Gobet E, Vannière B, van Leeuwen JFN, Wienhues G, Szidat S, Courtney-Mustaphi C, Kishe M, Muschick M, Seehausen O, Grosjean M, Tinner W. 2023. A chronologically reliable record of 17,000 years of biomass burning in the Lake Victoria area. Quaternary Science Reviews 301: 107915. DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107915

Rey F, Courtney Mustaphi C, Szidat S, Gobet E, Heiri O, Tinner W. 2023. Radiocarbon sampling efforts for high-precision lake sediment chronologies. The Holocene 33(5): 581–591.

Kariuki RW, Capitani C, Munishi LK, Shoemaker A, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, William N, Lane PJ, Marchant R. 2022. Serengeti’s futures? Exploring land use and land cover change scenarios to craft pathways for meeting conservation and development goals. Frontiers in Conservation Science 3: 920143. DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2022.920143

Courtney-Mustaphi CJ, Rucina S, Marchant R. 2022. Late Pleistocene montane forest fire return interval estimates from Mount Kenya. Journal of Quaternary Science 38(2): 146–159. DOI:10.1002/jqs.3466

Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Vos HC, Marchant R, Beale C. 2022. Charcoal whirlwinds and post-fire observations in Serengeti National Park savannahs. Tanzania Journal of Science 48(2), 460–473. DOI: 10.4314/tjs.v48i2.20

Cuenca-Cambronero M, Courtney-Mustaphi CJ, Greenway R, Heiri O, Hudson CM, King L, Lemmen KD, Moosmann M, Muschick M, Ngoepe N, Seehausen O, Matthews B. 2022. An integrative paleolimnological approach for studying evolutionary processes. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 37(6), 488–496. DOI:10.1016/j.tree.2022.01.007

Githumbi EN, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Marchant R. 2021. Sedimentological, palynological and charcoal analysis of the hydric palustrine sediments from the Lielerai-Kimana wetlands, Kajiado, southern Kenya. Palaeoecology of Africa 35, pp.107–126.
DOI:10.1201/9781003162766-8

Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Rucina SM, King L, Selby K, Marchant R. 2021. A palaeovegetation and diatom record of tropical montane forest fire, vegetation and hydroseral changes on Mount Kenya from 27000–16500 cal yr BP. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 581, 110625. DOI:10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110625

Courtney-Mustaphi C, Kariuki R, Shoemaker A, Munishi L, Ekblom A, Marchant Rob, Lane P. 2021. Understanding land use and land cover changes in northern Tanzania. Swiss Society for African Studies SSAS [Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Afrikastudien SSEA – SGAS] newsletter, 2021/1, pp.20–23. [PDF]

Githumbi E, Courtney Mustaphi C, Marchant R. 2021. Late Pleistocene and Holocene Afromontane vegetation variability at a headwater wetland within the Eastern Mau Forest, Kenya. Journal of Quaternary Science 36(2), 239–254. DOI: 10.1002/jqs.3267

Kariuki, RW, Munishi L, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Capitani C, Shoemaker A, Lane P, Marchant R. 2021. Integrating stakeholders’ perspectives and spatial modelling to develop scenarios of future land use and land cover change in northern Tanzania. PLoS ONE 16(2), e0245516. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245516 [Open Access] Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m63xsj417

Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Kinyanjui R, Shoemaker A, Mumbi C, Muiruri V, Marchant L, Rucina S, Marchant R. 2021. A 3000-year record of vegetation changes and fire at a high-elevation wetland on Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Quaternary Research 99, 34–62. doi: 10.1017/qua.2020.76 [Open Access version]

Phelps, L.N., Chevalier, M., Shanahan, T.M., Aleman, J.C., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Kiahtipes, C.A., Broennimann, O., Marchant, R., Shekeine, J., Quick, L.J., Davis, B.A.S., Guisan, A., Manning, K. 2020. Asymmetric response of forest and grassy biomes to climate variability across the African Humid Period: influenced by anthropogenic disturbance? Ecography 43(8), 1118–1142. doi: 10.1111/ecog.04990 [Supplementary Materials https://www.ecography.org/appendix/ecog-04990]

Munishi, L.K., Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Marchant, R. 2020. Observation of an adult female oribi with leucistic pelage in Lobo, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. African Journal of Ecology 58(1), 129–132.

Newman RJS, Capitani C, Courtney-Mustaphi C, Thorn JPR, Kariuki R, Enns C, Marchant R. 2020. Integrating insights from social‐ecological interactions into sustainable land use change scenarios for small islands in the western Indian Ocean. Sustainability 12(4), 1340. 23pp. DOI: 10.3390/su12041340 [Open Access]

Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Capitani C, Boles O, Kariuki R, Newman R, Munishi L, Marchant R, Lane P. 2019. Integrating evidence of land use and land cover change for land management policy formulation along the Kenya-Tanzania borderlands. Anthropocene 28, 100228.

Probert J, Parr C, Holdo RM, Anderson TM, Archibald S, Courtney Mustaphi C, Dobson A, Donaldson JE, Hempson G, Hopcraft JGC, Morrison TA, Beale CM. 2019. Anthropogenic modifications to fire regimes in the wider Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Global Change Biology 25(10), 3406–3423.

Boles O, Shoemaker A, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Petek N, Ekblom A, Lane P. 2019. Historical ecologies of pastoralist overgrazing in Kenya: long-term perspectives on cause and effect. Human Ecology 47(3), 419–434.

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Brahney, J., Aquino-López, M.A., Goring, S., Orton, K., Noronha, A., Czaplewski, J., Asena, Q., Paton, S., Brushworth, J.P. 2019. Guidelines for reporting and archiving ²¹⁰Pb sediment chronologies to improve fidelity and extend data lifecycle. Quaternary Geochronology 52, 77–87.

Davis EL, Courtney-Mustaphi C, Pisaric MFJ. 2018. Fire histories and futures of Columbian and Rocky Mountain forests, western Canada. Western Geography 23: 3–11.

Gallego-Sala A, Charman D, Brewer S, Page S, Prentice IC, Friedlingstein P, Moreton S, Amesbury M, Beilman D, Björck S, Blyakharchuk T, Bochicchio C, Booth R, Bunbury J, Camill P, Carless D, Chimner R, Clifford M, Cressey E, Courtney-Mustaphi C, De Vleeschouwer R, de Jong R, Fialkiewicz-Koziel B, Finkelstein S, Garneau M, Githumbi E, Hribjlan J, Holmquist J, Hughes P, Jones C, Jones M, Karofeld E, Klein E, Kokfelt U, Korhola A, Lacourse T, Le Roux G, Lamentowicz M, Large D, Lavoie M, Loisel J, Mackay H, MacDonald G, Makila M, Magnan G, Marchant R, Marcisz K, Martínez Cortizas A, Massa C, Mathijssen P, Mauquoy D, Mighall T, Mitchell FJG, Moss P, Nichols J, Oksanen PO, Orme L, Packalen M, Robinson S, Roland T, Sanderson N, Sannel AB, Silva-Sánchez N, Steinberg N, Swindles G, Turner TE, Uglow J, Väliranta M, van Bellen S, van der Linden M, van Geel B, Wang G, Yu Z, Zaragoza-Castells J, Zhao Y. 2018. Latitudinal limits to the predicted increase of the peatland carbon sink with warming. Nature Climate Change 8: 907–913.

Shipton C, Roberts P, Archer W, Armitage SJ, Bita C, Blinkhorn J, Courtney-Mustaphi C, Crowther A, Curtis R, d’ Errico F, Douka K, Faulkner P, Groucutt HS, Helm R, Herries AIR, Jembe S, Kourampas N, Lee-Thorp J, Marchant R, Mercader J, Pitarch Marti A, Prendergast ME, Rowson B, Tengeza A, Tibesasa R, White TS, Petraglia MD, Boivin N. 78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later stone age innovation in an East African tropical forest. Nature Communications 9, 1832. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3

Beale CM, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Morrison TA, Archibald S, Anderson TM, Dobson AP, Donaldson JE, Hempson GP, Probert J, Parr CL. 2018. Pyrodiversity interacts with rainfall to increase bird and mammal richness in African savannas. Ecology Letters 21(4): 557–567. [Eureka Alert article]

Githumbi E, Kariuki R, Shoemaker A, Courtney Mustaphi C, Chuhila M, Richer S, Lane P, Marchant R. 2018. Pollen, people and place: paleoenvironmental, archaeological, and ecological perspectives on vegetation change in the Amboseli landscape, Kenya. Frontiers in Earth Science 5 Article 113: 1–26. DOI: 10.3389/feart.2017.00113

Marchant R, Richer S, Boles O, Capitani C, Courtney-Mustaphi C, Lane P, Prendergast M, Stump D, Wynne-Jones S, Ferro Vázquez C, Wright D, Boivin N, Lang C, Kay A, Phelps L, Fuller D, Widgren M, Punwong P, Lejju J, Gaillard-Lemdahl M-J, Morrison KD, Kaplan J, Benard J, Crowther A, Cuní-Sanchez A, de Cort G, Deere N, Ekblom A, Farmer J, Finch J, Gillson L, Githumbi E, Kabora T, Kariuki R, Kinyanjui R, Kyazike E, Muiruri V, Mumbi C, Muthoni R, Muzuka A, Ndiema E, Nzabandora C, Olago D, Onjala D, Pas Schrijver A, Petek N, Platts PJ, Rucina S, Shoemaker A, Thornton-Barnett S, van der Plas G, Watson L, Williamson D. 2018. Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa: human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present. Earth-Science Reviews 178: 322–378.

Githumbi EN*, Courtney Mustaphi CJ*, Yun KJ, Muiruri V, Rucina SM, Marchant R. 2018. Late Holocene wetland transgression and 500 years of vegetation and fire variability in the semi-arid Amboseli landscape, southern Kenya. Ambio – A Journal of the Human Environment 47(6), pp 682–696. *equal contribution [Phys.org summary]

Pfeifer M, Andrew B, Calders K, Cayuela L, Courtney-Mustaphi C, Cuní-Sanchez A, Deere N, Denu D, Gonsamo A, Gonzalez de Tanago J, Hayward R, Lau A, Macia MJ, Marchant R, Ledo A, Marshall AR, Olivier P, Paine CET, Pellikka P, Hamidu S, Shirima D, Trevithick R, Wedeux B, Wheeler C, Woodgate W, Platts PJ. 2018. Tropical forest canopies and their relationships with climate and disturbance – results from a global dataset of consistent field-based measurements. Forest Ecosystems 5: 7. doi: 10.1186/s40663-017-0118-7

Seki HA, Shirima DD, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Marchant R, Munishi PKT. 2018. The impact of land use and land cover change on biodiversity within and adjacent Kibasira Swamp in Kilombero valley, Tanzania. African Journal of Ecology 53(6): 518–527. doi: 10.1111/aje.12488

Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Gajewski K, Marchant R, Rosqvist G. 2017. A late Holocene pollen record from proglacial Oblong Tarn, Mount Kenya. PLOS One 12(9): e0184925. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0184925 [Data available from open access Harvard Dataverse]

Hempson G, Parr C, Archibald S, Anderson T, Courtney Mustaphi, CJ, Dobson A, Donaldson J, Morrison T, Probert J, Beale C. 2018. Continent-level drivers of African pyrodiversity. Ecography 42(6), 889–899. [Data available from Dryad]

Courtney Mustaphi CJ, and Pisaric MFJ. 2018. Forest vegetation change and disturbance interactions over the past 7500 years at Sasquatch Lake, Columbia Mountains, western Canada. Quaternary International 488, 95–106.

Hawthorne D*, Courtney Mustaphi CJ*, Aleman JC*, Blarquez O, Colombaroli D, Daniau A-L, Marlon JR, Power M, Vannière B, Han Y, Hantson S, Kehrwald N, Magi B, Yue X, Carcaillet C, Marchant R, Ayodele O, Githumbi EN, Muriuki RM. 2018. Global Modern Charcoal Dataset (GMCD): a tool for exploring proxy-fire linkages and spatial patterns of biomass burning. Quaternary International 488, 3–17.
*equal contribution

Patterson RT, Crann C, Cutts J, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Nasser N, Macumber A, Galloway J, Swindles G, Falck H. 2017. New occurrences of the White River Ash (east lobe) in Subarctic Canada and utility for estimating freshwater reservoir effect in lake sediment archives. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 477, 1–9.

Sánchez Goñi, M. F., Desprat, S., Daniau, A.-L., Bassinot, F. C., Polanco-Martínez, J. M., Harrison, S. P., Allen, J. R. M., Anderson, R. S., Behling, H., Bonnefille, R., Burjachs, F., Carrión, J. S., Cheddadi, R., Clark, J. S., Combourieu-Nebout, N., Courtney-Mustaphi, C. J., Debusk, G. H., Dupont, L. M., Finch, J. M., Fletcher, W. J., Giardini, M., González, C., Gosling, W. D., Grigg, L. D., Grimm, E. C., Hayashi, R., Helmens, K., Heusser, L. E., Hill, T., Hope, G., Huntley, B., Igarashi, Y., Irino, T., Jacobs, B., Jiménez-Moreno, G., Kawai, S., Kershaw, P., Kumon, F., Lawson, I. T., Ledru, M.-P., Lézine, A.-M., Liew, P. M., Magri, D., Marchant, R., Margari, V., Mayle, F. E., McKenzie, M., Moss, P., Müller, S., Müller, U. C., Naughton, F., Newnham, R. M., Oba, T., Pérez-Obiol, R., Pini, R., Ravazzi, C., Roucoux, K. H., Rucina, S. M., Scott, L., Takahara, H., Tzedakis, P. C., Urrego, D. H., van Geel, B., Valencia, B. G., Vandergoes, M. J., Vincens, A., Whitlock, C. L., Willard, D. A., and Yamamoto, M. 2017. The ACER pollen and charcoal database: a global resource to document vegetation and fire response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period. Earth System Science Data 9, 679–695. doi: 10.5194/essd-9-679-2017. [Data available from PANGEA]

Outridge PM, Sanei H, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Gajewski K. 2017. Holocene climate change influences on trace metal and organic matter geochemistry in the sediments of an Arctic lake over 7,000 years. Applied Geochemistry 78, 35–48.

Finch J, Marchant R, Courtney Mustaphi CJ. 2017. Ecosystem change in the South Pare Mountain bloc, Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. The Holocene 27 (6), 796–810. [ScienceDaily summary]

Davis EL, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Gall A, Pisaric MFJ, Vermaire JC, Moser KA. 2016. Determinants of fire activity during the last 3500 years at a wildland-urban interface, Alberta, Canada. Quaternary Research 86(3), 247–259.

Marlon, J. R., Kelly, R,. Daniau, A.-L., Vannière, B., Power, M. J., Bartlein, P., Higuera, P., Blarquez, O., Brewer, S., Brücher, T., Feurdean, A., Gil-Romera, G., Iglesias, V., Maezumi, S.Y., Magi, B., Courtney Mustaphi, C. J., Zhihai, T. 2016. Reconstructions of biomass burning from sediment charcoal records to improve data-model comparisons. Biogeosciences 13, 3225–3244.

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ, Githumbi, EN, Shotter, LR, Rucina, SM, Marchant, R. 2016. Subfossil statoblasts of Lophopodella capensis (Sollas, 1908) (Bryozoa: Phylactolaemata: Lophopodidae) in the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sediments of a montane wetland, Eastern Mau Forest, Kenya. African Invertebrates 7(1): 39–52. doi: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.57.8191. [Data available]

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Davis, E.L., Perreault, J.T., Pisaric, M.F.J. 2015. Spatial variability of recent macroscopic charcoal deposition in a small montane lake and implications for reconstruction of watershed-scale fire regimes. Journal of Paleolimnology 54 (1): 71–86. DOI: 10.1007/s10933-015-9838-2 [Video summary]

Coleman, K.A., Palmer, M.J., Korosi, J.B., Kokelj, S.V., Jackson, K., Hargan, K., Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Thienpont, J.R., Kimpe, L.E., Blais, J.M., Pisaric, M.F.J., and Smol, J.P. 2015. Tracking the impacts of recent warming and thaw of permafrost peatlands on aquatic ecosystems: a multi-proxy approach using remote sensing and lake sediments. Boreal Environment Research 20: 363–377.

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J. and Pisaric M.F.J. 2014. A classification for macroscopic charcoal morphologies found in Holocene lacustrine sediments. Progress in Physical Geography 38: 734–754. doi:10.1177/0309133314548886 [Data link]

Morris, J., Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Carter, V., Watt, J., Derr, K., Pisaric, M.F.J., Anderson, R.S., and Brunelle, A. 2014. Do bark beetle remains in lake sediments correspond to severe outbreaks? A review of published and ongoing research. Quaternary International 387: 72–86. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2014.03.022

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J. and Pisaric M.F.J. 2014. Holocene climate-fire-vegetation interactions at a subalpine watershed in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Quaternary Research 81(2): 228–239. DOI: 10.1016/j.yqres.2013.12.002

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J. and Pisaric M.F.J. 2013. Varying influence of climate and aspect as controls of montane forest fire regimes during the late Holocene, south-eastern British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Biogeography 40(10): 1983–1996. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12143

Vermaire, J.C., Pisaric, M.F.J., Thienpont, J.R., Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Kokelj, S.V., and Smol, J.P. 2013. Arctic climate warming and sea ice declines lead to increased storm surge activity. Geophysical Research Letters 40(7): 1386–1390. DOI: 10.1002/grl.50191

Selected as an Editor’s Research Highlight: Colin Schultz. 16 April 2013. Arctic climate warming leads to increased storm surge activity. EOS, Transactions American Geophysical Union 94 (16): 156. DOI: 10.1002/2013EO160006
Altmetric

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Gajewski, K. 2013. Holocene sediments from a coastal lake on northern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 50(5): 564–575. Doi:10.1139/cjes-2012-0143

Read a review by CO2science.org

Reports:

Liz Storer, Anna Shoemaker, Annemiek Pas Schrijver, Geert W. van der Plas, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi (eds.). 2017. Field diary. Issue 2 Mar 2017. 45pp.

van der Plas, G., Githumbi, E.N., Courtney Mustaphi, C.J. 2016. Life of a pollen grain. In: Land and People. Volume 1, January 2016. pp 24-25. Printed at: Tiskarna Radovljica, Slovenia. ISBN: 978-0-9573771-5-8 [Link to full issue] DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2296.3609

Esther N. Githumbi, Rebecca Kariuki, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, Rebecca Muriuki, Stephen M. Rucina, Rob Marchant. 2015. Recent environmental changes in Eastern Mau and Amboseli, Kenya. BIEA 2014-2015 annual report, pp 22.

Annemiek Pas Schrijver, Geert W. van der Plas, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi (eds.). 2015. Field diary. Issue 1 Jul 2015. 17pp.

Esther N. Githumbi, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, Rob Marchant. 2014. Natural and anthropogenic causes of environmental change in the Amboseli and Mau Forest regions. BIEA 2013-2014 annual report, pp 11–12.

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Githumbi, E., Mutua, J., Muriuki, R.M., Rucina, S.M., Marchant, R. 2014. Ongoing sedimentological and palaeoecological investigations at Nyabuiyabui wetland, Kiptunga Forest Block, Eastern Mau Forest, Nakuru District, Kenya. Report to the Mau Forest Conservation Office, Kenya Forest Service, and the National Museums of Kenya Palaeobotany and Palynology Section. REAL contribution 002. 4 May 2014. 29 p.[PDF]

[+ Abstract]

This report summarizes fieldwork done by members of the REAL project who are studying wetlands across Kenya to understand how these systems have evolved through time. We employ sedimentological and palaeoecological approaches to physically characterise the wetland basins and to gain a deeper understanding of how these wetlands have changed in response to past variability of climate and human land use practices. Multiple wetlands exist within the Mau Forests of Kenya that are ecologically and developmentally important to the region. Hydrologically, these swamps form significant surficial reservoirs of water that drain into extensive channel networks across East Africa and are an important component of the high elevation ‘water towers’ that are crucial to water management and the political imagining of nationally-important water resources. Historically, these wetlands have been key landscape features serving wildlife, livestock, and human populations with water particularly during dry periods. Few paleoenvironmental studies have been produced on the Mau Escarpment. The purpose of this study is to investigate these wetlands and examine how these ecosystems have responded to Late Quaternary climatic variability, large wildlife herbivory, and changes in human land use patterns. Continued scientific study is needed due to the diversity of wetland ecosystems across this landscape with strong environmental gradients and to analyse the varying spatial controls influencing the environmental conditions. This is especially true considering the multiple, recent, rapid and intense landscape transformations that have occurred. Some of these transformations include the industrial management of plantation forests, channelisation of wetlands, sediment infilling, road construction, increasing human populations, and conversion of forest to farmland. This document reports ongoing scientific study of the physical wetland systems and how the sites have evolved over geological time scales in response to climatic and land-use behavioural changes.

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Githumbi, E., Shoemaker, A., Degefa, A.Z., Petek, N., van der Plas, G., Muriuki, R.M., Rucina, S.M., Marchant, R. 2014. Ongoing sedimentological and palaeoecological investigations at Lielerai Kimana and Ormakau Swamps, Kajiado District, Kenya. A report to the local authorities of Kimana and Namelok, Olive Branch Mission Africa Operations, and the National Museums of Kenya Palaeobotany and Palynology Section. REAL contribution 001. 29 April, 2014. 32 p.
[PDF]

[+ Abstract]

This report summarizes fieldwork done by members of the REAL project who are studying wetlands in Kajiado District, southern Kenya, to understand how these systems have evolved through time. We employ sedimentological and palaeoecological approaches to physically characterise the swamp basins and to gain a deeper understanding of how these swamps have changed in response to past variability of climate and human land use practices. Multiple wetlands exist upon the semi-arid landscape of southern Kenya within the boundaries of the previous extent of Amboseli Lake that are ecologically and developmentally important to the region. Hydrologically, these swamps are recharged through groundwater flows from Mt Kilimanjaro, which are sensitive to climatic change and extraction pressure by nearby populations. Historically, these wetlands have been key landscape features serving wildlife, livestock, and human populations with water particularly during droughts. The multiple stakeholders within the area have vested and often competing interests regarding how these critical ecosystems should be managed in a sustainable framework for the future of these communities. Previous studies have shown that these wetlands are sensitive to late Holocene climatic variability, large wildlife herbivory, and changes in human land use patterns. Continued scientific study is needed due to the diversity of wetland ecosystems across this landscape and varying spatial controls influencing the environmental conditions. This is especially true considering the multiple, recent, rapid and intense landscape transformations that have occurred. Some of these transformations include the creation of societal and physical enclosures around wetlands, increasing human population, land subdivisions and tenure changes, fluctuations within the conservation and tourism industry, drainage for conversion to croplands and increases in irrigated agriculture wildlife and livestock population changes in the Amboseli basin, poaching, and declining wet montane forest cover on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. This document reports ongoing scientific study of the physical wetland systems and how the sites have evolved over geological time scales in response to climatic and land-use behavioural changes.

Courtney Mustaphi, C.J. 2013. An Assessment of Holocene Fire Regime Controls in Southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Foothills Research Institute research update. [PDF LINK]

Lori D. Daniels, Ze’ev Gedalof, Michael F.J. Pisaric, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, Eric Da Silva, Helene Marcoux, Vesta Mather, John H. Nesbitt, Eugenie Paul-Limoges, Joelle Perreault, Courtney Steele. 2011. Historic climate-fire-vegetation interactions of the west versus east Kootenays: implications of climate change and fire suppression. Report to Tembec Industries, R.W. Consulting Inc., B.A. Blackwell and Associates, BC Ministry of Natural Resource Operations, and BC Parks. July 2011. 33p.

Lori D. Daniels, Ze’ev Gedalof, Michael F.J. Pisaric, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, Eric Da Silva, Helene Marcoux, Vesta Mather, John H Nesbitt, Eugenie Paul-Limoges, Joelle Perreault, Courtney Steele. 2011. Historic climate-fire-vegetation interactions of the West versus East Kootenays: Implications of climate change and fire suppression. NSERC Strategic Report 2011. 57p.

Datasets:

CARD2.0 – radiocarbon dates (East Africa; lake DV09, Devon Island; Pyatts Lake, Sasquatch Lake, NEL01, NEL03, British Columbia).

Courtney Mustaphi, Colin; Gajewski, Konrad; Marchant, Rob; Rosqvist, Gunhild, 2017, “Radiocarbon dates, sedimentology, and pollen counts from the late Holocene sediments of Oblong Tarn, Mount Kenya”, doi:10.7910/DVN/BBDYUZ, Harvard Dataverse, V1. [R code]

Davis, Emma; Courtney Mustaphi, Colin J.; Gall, Amber; Pisaric, Michael F. J.; Vermaire, Jesse C.; Moser, Katrina A., 2016. Radiocarbon dating, macroscopic charcoal counts, pollen counts, and tree-establishment data from Little Trefoil Lake, Alberta, Canada. doi:10.7910/DVN/6O5BOI, Harvard Dataverse, V1.

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ; Githumbi, EN; Shotter, LR; Rucina, SM; Marchant, R. 2016. Radiocarbon dates, magnetic susceptibility and subfossil remains of Lophopodella capensis (Sollas, 1908) data from a sediment core collected from Enapuiyapui wetland, Eastern Mau Forest, Kenya. Harvard Dataverse, V1.

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ. 2016. Radiocarbon dates from eastern Africa in the CARD2.0 format. Harvard Dataverse, V5.

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ. 2015. Paleoecological and sedimentological data from: “A classification for macroscopic charcoal morphologies found in Holocene lacustrine sediments”. Harvard Dataverse, V1.

Data from lake NEL01, British Columbia, Canada (Courtney Mustaphi et al, 2015 JoPL).

Data from lake NEL03, British Columbia, Canada (Courtney Mustaphi and Pisaric, 2014 QR).

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ. 2013. Replication data for: Holocene sediments from a coastal lake on northern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada. hdl:10864/10466, Scholars Portal Dataverse – University of Ottawa Dataverse, V2.

Data from Lake DV09, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada (Courtney Mustaphi and Gajewski, 2013 CJES).

Contributions to research networks:

PAGES Global Paleofire Working Group

PAGES Ocean2K Working Group

Colombaroli D, J. Mistry, A. Milner, B. Vannière, C. Adolf, D. Hawthorne, the Global Paleofire Working Group (GPWG2). 2018. DiverseK: integrating paleoecology, traditional knowledge and stakeholders. Past Global Changes Magazine, vol. 26(2): 89. https://doi.org/10.22498/pages.26.2.89

Aleman, J.C., Hennebelle, A., Vannière, B., Blarquez, O., the Global Paleofire Working Group. 2018. Sparking New Opportunities for Charcoal-Based Fire History Reconstructions. Fire 1(1), 7. DOI: 10.3390/fire1010007

Tierney, J. E., Abram, N. J., Anchukaitis, K. J., Evans, M. N., Giry, C., Kilbourne, K. H., … & Zinke, J. (2015). Tropical sea surface temperatures for the past four centuries reconstructed from coral archives. Paleoceanography, 30(3), 226–252.

Theses:

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ. 2013. A Landscape-Scale Assessment of Holocene Fire Regime Controls in South-Eastern British Columbia, Canada. Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Canada. Supervisor: Michael Pisaric, Co-Supervisor: R. Timothy Patterson. [Supplemental Files – raw data]

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ. 2009. Analysis of Laminated Sediments from Lake DV09, Northern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada. Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, Canada. Supervisor: Konrad Gajewski.

Recent Conference Talks:

Courtney-Mustaphi CJ, Kinyanjui R, Kariuki R, Muiruri V, Shoemaker A, Mumbi C, Rucina SM, Marchant R. 2021. Vegetation change on Africa’s highest mountain. 79th International Conference of the University of Latvia – Ecosystems and fire. University of Latvia, Riga. 28 January 2021. via Zoom.

Beale CM, Courtney Mustaphi CJ, Morrison TA, Archibald S, Anderson TM, Dobson AP, Donaldson JE, Hempson GP, Probert J, Parr CL. 2018. Pyrodiversity and the distribution of bird and mammal diversity in African savannahs. British Ecological Society (BES), Edinburgh, 19 December 2018.

Posters:

C. Courtney Mustaphi; R. Marchant; E. Githumbi; V. Muiruri; S. Rucina; S. Richer; P. Lane; A. Shoemaker. 2017. Wetland vegetation dynamics in he semi-arid Amboseli landscape of southern Kenya. PAGES OSM May 9–13 2017, Zaragoza, Spain.

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ; Deere, N; Githumbi, E; Marchant, R. 2014. Fire disturbance regimes and vegetation interactions in East Africa during the Late Quaternary [updated]. South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP) – Royal Society, London, UK, October 6–7, 2014. [PDF] [JPEG]

Courtney Mustaphi, CJ; Deere, N; Githumbi, E; Marchant, R. 2014. Fire disturbance regimes and vegetation interactions in East Africa during the Late Quaternary. Open PAGES Focus 4 Workshop Human-Climate-Ecosystem Interactions, University of Leuven, Belgium, February 3–7, 2014.

Githumbi, E; Courtney Mustaphi, CJ; Deere, N; Marchant, R. 2014.Long Term Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics in East Africa. University of York Environment Department Post Graduate Conference. York, UK. February, 20–21, 2014.

Human use of fire on the landscape has influenced vegetation composition, biomass abundance, and biodiversity in many ecosystems worldwide. Fire activity also has implications for carbon cycling and can result in a net carbon sink or source depending on the alteration of fire regimes and vegetation changes. The major controls of fire activity over centennial to millennial scales are dynamic and are further influenced by human land use and behavioral patterns and have shaped the modern ecosystems. It is often difficult to quantify the anthropogenic influence on biomass burning because the relative importance of natural controls of fire vary over multiple spatiotemporal scales and the analysis of detailed paleoecological data and human cultural information is necessary. Land use and burning practices have changed throughout the Holocene in East Africa and over the coming months we will be synthesizing multiple palaeoecological records of vegetation and fire activity to begin to disentangle the human influences on the environment. Modern biomass burning activity and rapid vegetation changes will be quantified using moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover grids (500-m resolution).
Multiple records of biomass burning activity are needed to understand the natural controls on fire, such as climate, fuel types and abundance, and topography. The rise of pastoralist societies around 4000 cal yr BP represented a major shift in human impacts on vegetation, fuels, and ignition patterns. By analyzing the natural variability alongside archeological and historical data on human societies it may be possible to characterize the ecological impacts of human burning activities.
Demographic changes impacted the environment variably over space and reflected the intensity of land use and the values of those societies. Synthesis of multiple records of biomass burning can be used to understand the broad-scale controls of fire activity. Comparative analysis of fire records at sites across environmental gradients provides insights into the relative importance of natural and anthropogenic controls of fire. Examination of natural and anthropogenic variability on vegetation and disturbance regimes helps us understand the evolution of human-environmental interactions and the processes that have led to the present landscapes. This information is critical to developing sustainable trajectories for land management policy and conservation efforts crucial to the future of East African landscapes experiencing development pressure and rapid climate change.

Laboratory Protocols:

available here.

In The Media:

27 January 2015. Kazakh TV Kazakh-UK Sustainable Cities Workshop.

MacDonald, Sally. 2012. Scientists sample lakes to tell forests’ history. Daily Times [Trail, BC, Canada] 15 August 2012: A16.

MacDonald, Sally. 2012. Scientists sample lakes to tell forests’ history. Daily Townsman [Cranbrook, BC, Canada] 14 August 2012: 3.

Newman, J., Anand, M., Henry, H., Hunt, S., Gedalof, Z. 2011. Climate Change Biology. CAB International – Gutenberg Press, Malta. 289pp. [Featured in a fieldwork photo on page 7].

Videos:

Courtney-Mustaphi CJ, Ebner J, Rey F, Wick L, Grudzinska-Elsberga I, Lapellegerie P, Dwileski A, Urs Leuzinger, Hansjörg B, Heiri O. February 2021. Bohrkernuntersuchungen im Kanton Thurgau. Klima, Mensch und Umwelt im Thurgau (KUMiT) projekt. Forschungsgruppe Geoökologie, Departement Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Basel; Amt für Archäologie Kanton Thurgau, Schweiz. 2m46s.

‘Grains of Truth’ AAREA project summary

JoPL 2015 video abstract

Fieldwork in East Africa

Introducing the University of York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems

Quadcopter flight over Ormakau wetland, near Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Colin Courtney Mustaphi Publication List

Publication List

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles:

Other peer-reviewed articles:

Reports:

Datasets:

Contributions to research networks:

Theses:

Recent Conference Talks:

Posters:

Laboratory Protocols:

In The Media:

Videos:

Site information

Find us on Facebook:

Coordinating partner

Publication List

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles:

Other peer-reviewed articles:

Reports:

Datasets:

Contributions to research networks:

Theses:

Recent Conference Talks:

Posters:

Laboratory Protocols:

In The Media:

Videos:

Share this:

Site information

Find us on Facebook:

Coordinating partner