Understanding how entire ecosystems maintain stability in the face of climatic and human disturbance is one of the most fundamental challenges in ecology. Theory suggests that a crucial factor determining the degree of ecosystem stability is simply the degree of synchrony with which different species in ecological food webs respond to environmental stochasticity. Ecosystems in which all food‐web pathways are affected similarly...

Data from long‐term ecological studies further understanding of ecosystem dynamics and can guide evidence‐based management. In a quasi‐natural experiment we examined long‐term monitoring data on different components of the Serengeti‐Mara Ecosystem to trace the effects of disturbances and thus to elucidate cause‐and‐effect connections between them. The long‐term data illustrated the role of food limitation in population regulat...

Considerable controversy surrounds the effectiveness of strictly protected areas that prohibit consumptive resource use. For Tanzania we compared temporal changes in densities of large herbivores among heavily protected national parks and game reserves, partially protected game‐controlled areas, and areas with little or no protection. Comparisons based on surveys conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s versus the late 1990...