About

Robert Pringle is a professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies. His research addresses a broad suite of questions related to ecology and conservation, including how ecologically similar species coexist, the organization of food webs, the ecological importance of large herbivores and carnivores, and the rules governing biological community assembly and biodiversity patterns in space and time. His work explores the mechanisms behind ecological interactions across gradients of climate and soil fertility, species cooperation and mutualisms, invasion dynamics, plant defense strategies, spatial pattern formation, ecosystem stability, and large-scale ecosystem restoration following disturbances such as civil war and faunal collapse. Pringle's research primarily focuses on African savannas and small Caribbean islands, employing empirical and theoretical approaches, with a particular emphasis on combining DNA metabarcoding and molecular analyses with manipulative field experiments to understand ecological patterns and processes.

Research topics

• Ecology
• Biology
• Computer Science
• Machine Learning
• Psychology
• Data science
• Cognitive psychology

Selected publications

• Code and data: A theoretical framework for multispecies coexistence in large herbivores based on functional traits and dietary data

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026-02-16

  otherOpen access

  Code and data to accompany the paper: Title: A theoretical framework for multispecies coexistence in large herbivores based on functional traits and dietary data Abstract: Modern Coexistence Theory (MCT) has long aimed to predict community structure, but empirical support remains scattered across unconnected case-studies from a narrow subset of systems where it is possible to quantify niche and fitness differences (e.g., pairwise interactions between fast-growing plants or protists). We sought a framework to apply MCT to a broader range of ecological scenarios by combining eDNA dietary data with life-history traits of mammal herbivores from diverse communities across three African savannas. Although this first application of the framework treated dietary niche differentiation as the sole mechanism for coexistence, it unveiled three conclusions about multispecies coexistence. First, dietary niche differentiation promoted coexistence but was insufficient to explain observed coexistence for all species. Second, modelled coexistence patterns in herbivore communities could not be predicted from species-level traits or pairwise comparisons. Third, herbivore diversity is generally robust to reductions in the number of plant resources, particularly when there is more dietary specialisation.

  PublisherDOI

• Code and data: A theoretical framework for multispecies coexistence in large herbivores based on functional traits and dietary data

  Open MIND · 2026-02-27

  other

  Code and data to accompany the paper: Title: A theoretical framework for multispecies coexistence in large herbivores based on functional traits and dietary data Abstract: Modern Coexistence Theory (MCT) has long aimed to predict community structure, but empirical support remains scattered across unconnected case-studies from a narrow subset of systems where it is possible to quantify niche and fitness differences (e.g., pairwise interactions between fast-growing plants or protists). We sought a framework to apply MCT to a broader range of ecological scenarios by combining eDNA dietary data with life-history traits of mammal herbivores from diverse communities across three African savannas. Although this first application of the framework treated dietary niche differentiation as the sole mechanism for coexistence, it unveiled three conclusions about multispecies coexistence. First, dietary niche differentiation promoted coexistence but was insufficient to explain observed coexistence for all species. Second, modelled coexistence patterns in herbivore communities could not be predicted from species-level traits or pairwise comparisons. Third, herbivore diversity is generally robust to reductions in the number of plant resources, particularly when there is more dietary specialisation.

  DOI

• Author response for "A theoretical framework for multispecies coexistence in large herbivores based on functional traits and dietary data"

  2026-02-16

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• Ecology of community reassembly: Movements and diets of megafauna during a decade of restoration in Mozambique

  Ecology · 2026-04-01

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The last decade has brought a worldwide surge of interest in rewilding-the repopulation of large herbivores and carnivores-as a strategy for conserving species and reviving ecosystem functions. Rewilding initiatives, if closely monitored, can provide unique insights into the ecology of the world's largest animals at otherwise impossible spatial and temporal scales. Capitalizing on these opportunities, and developing a knowledge base to guide future restoration efforts, requires the collection and dissemination of long-term data that document community reassembly. To date, such data are virtually nonexistent: most megafaunal restoration projects are nascent and/or have not been rigorously monitored. Since 2008, the Gorongosa Restoration Project, in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park, has facilitated the recovery of megafauna populations that were severely depleted or extirpated during the country's civil war (1977-1992). For over a decade, we have monitored Gorongosa's large-herbivore populations to understand how animal behavior and trophic interactions change as communities reassemble. Here, we present spatiotemporally explicit data sets on the movements and diets of large herbivores in Gorongosa between 2013 and 2025, along with annual rainfall data. This period encompassed extremes of climate (including some of the driest and wettest years on record) and the reintroduction, starting in 2018, of locally extinct apex predators and scavengers: African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), leopard (Panthera pardus), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), and side-striped jackal (Lupulella adusta). We used GPS telemetry to monitor 277 herbivores of seven species (listed below with number of individuals collared, median duration of tracking, and median number of locations per individual): Cape bushbuck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus: 103 individuals; 280 days; 6646 fixes), nyala (T. angasii: 37 individuals; 306 days; 6789 fixes), greater kudu (T. strepsiceros: 80 individuals; 300 days; 17,365 fixes), common eland (T. oryx: 10 individuals; 334 days; 15,783 fixes), waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus: 22 individuals; 13 days; 2877 fixes), plains zebra (Equus quagga: 7 individuals; 212 days; 1171 fixes), and African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana: 18 individuals; 706 days; 33,122 fixes). For 295 individuals that were immobilized during this work, we present morphological measurements (chest girth, body length, hind-foot length, weight), reproductive status and nutritional condition (ultrasound measurements, palpation scores), and fate (mortality date and cause, if known). For diet analysis, we used DNA metabarcoding to identify and quantify the relative abundances of plant taxa in 3785 fecal samples from 27 mammal species belonging to 11 families and 7 orders. In all, we recorded 516 food-plant taxa from at least 87 plant families and 39 orders. For Gorongosa's 15 most common large herbivores, the median sampling depth was 216 fecal samples per species (interquartile range 156-279); the overall median sampling depth was 92 samples per species (range 1-499). We include basic metadata collected in the field (e.g., date, time, GPS location, animal sex, and age) along with laboratory notes and information on plant taxonomic identification. These data are valuable not just as a window on one ecosystem's recovery from armed conflict, but also as a resource for macroecology, meta-analysis, and synthetic studies of animal movement, diet, and the dynamics of community reassembly. The data are freely available for use and this paper should be cited whenever data are reused; see Data S1: Metadata S1: Class III.B.4 for additional details.

  PublisherDOI

• A Theoretical Framework for Multispecies Coexistence in Large Herbivores Based on Functional Traits and Dietary Data

  Ecology Letters · 2026-03-01

  article

  Modern Coexistence Theory (MCT) has long aimed to predict community structure, but empirical support remains scattered across unconnected case-studies from a narrow subset of systems where it is possible to quantify niche and fitness differences (e.g., pairwise interactions between fast-growing plants or protists). We sought a framework to apply MCT to a broader range of ecological scenarios by combining eDNA dietary data with life-history traits of mammal herbivores from diverse communities across three African savannas. Although this first application of the framework treated dietary niche differentiation as the sole mechanism for coexistence, it unveiled three conclusions about multispecies coexistence. First, dietary niche differentiation promoted coexistence but was insufficient to explain observed coexistence for all species. Second, modelled coexistence patterns in herbivore communities could not be predicted from species-level traits or pairwise comparisons. Third, herbivore diversity is generally robust to reductions in the number of plant resources, particularly when there is more dietary specialisation.

  PublisherDOI

• Author response for "A theoretical framework for multispecies coexistence in large herbivores based on functional traits and dietary data"

  2026-02-06

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• Author response for "A theoretical framework for multispecies coexistence in large herbivores based on functional traits and dietary data"

  2026-02-27

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• Experimental defaunation alters foraging behavior of a small antelope (Guenther’s Dik-dik, <i>Madoqua guentheri</i>  ) in Kenya

  Journal of Mammalogy · 2026-04-15

  article

  Abstract African savannas are experiencing an array of human-induced changes, including reductions and extirpations of large mammalian herbivores. The outcomes of these changes will be at least partially dependent on the functional responses of species that persist, including changes to plant-herbivore interaction networks. However, experimental tests of how ecological context, season, and competition jointly regulate foraging behaviors of large mammals are sparse. Therefore, we combined dietary DNA metabarcoding and a long-term herbivore-exclusion experiment in semi-arid Kenyan savanna to understand how a small browsing antelope (Guenther’s Dik-dik, Madoqua guentheri, ∼5 kg) responds to the absence of larger herbivores across seasons (e.g., wet vs dry) and sites (e.g., mesic vs xeric). We hypothesized that: (i) dik-dik diets would differ from those of co-occurring large browsers due to size-based differences in forage selection and accessibility; (ii) exclusion of larger herbivores would increase dik-dik activity and enable them to select high-quality browse, consistent with competitive release; and (iii) this selective foraging by dik-dik would suppress the growth and recruitment of their preferred woody food species. Consistent with our hypotheses, dik-dik diets differed significantly from co-occurring—but much larger—mixed-feeders, including the African Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta africana) and Impala (Aepyceros melampus). Dik-dik foraged selectively according to plant nutritional properties, especially protein content, and they avoided long-spined Acacia species, particularly during dry seasons and at the xeric site. In the absence of larger herbivores, dik-dik activity increased &amp;gt;2-fold, and they increased selectivity for the most nutritious, least-defended Acacia species. Shifts in selectivity due to competitive release were strongest under resource-scarce conditions, including dry seasons and xeric environments, amplifying local impacts of large-herbivore losses on savanna plant communities. Finally, in the absence of larger browsers, dik-dik suppressed the growth of their preferred species (Acacia mellifera), but only at the xeric site. Together, these results provide strong evidence that dik-dik exhibit flexible foraging behavior in response to larger herbivores, especially in resource-scarce conditions. If large herbivores are extirpated, subsequent diet shifts by dik-dik may suppress long-term plant diversity in this savanna.

  PublisherDOI

• Author response for "Disturbances in drylands: Interactions among herbivory, drought, and termite activity in savanna plant communities"

  2025-01-14

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• A theoretical framework for multispecies coexistence in large herbivores based on functional traits and dietary data

  2025-10-30

  articleOpen access

  Modern Coexistence Theory (MCT) has long aimed to predict community structure, but empirical support remains scattered across unconnected case-studies from a narrow subset of systems where it is possible to quantify niche and fitness differences (e.g., pairwise interactions between fast-growing plants or protists). We sought a framework to apply MCT to a broader range of ecological scenarios by combining eDNA dietary data with life-history traits of mammal herbivores from diverse communities across three African savannas. Although this first application of the framework treated dietary niche differentiation as the sole mechanism for coexistence, it unveiled three conclusions about multispecies coexistence. First, dietary niche differentiation promoted coexistence but was insufficient to explain observed coexistence for all species. Second, modelled coexistence patterns in herbivore communities could not be predicted from species-level traits or pairwise comparisons. Third, herbivore diversity is generally robust to reductions in the number of plant resources, particularly when there is more dietary specialisation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• International Research Fellowship Program: Ecological Consequences of Large-Herbivore Declines under Different Rainfall Regimes

  NSF · $60k · 2009–2011

• BoCP-Implementation: Eco-evolutionary dynamics of rewilding: Real-time genetic monitoring of large-mammal community reassembly

  NSF · $2.5M · 2023–2027

• Predation, Competition, and Establishment Dynamics within an Insular Adaptive Radiation

  NSF · $883k · 2015–2021

• Dissertation Research: Testing the effects of large mammalian herbivores on savanna dynamics and community structure with regional- and continent-scale natural experiments

  NSF · $15k · 2015–2016

• DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Plant defenses in African savannas: testing the effects of induced and associational defenses on plant phenotype, fitness and diversity

  NSF · $16k · 2016–2018

Frequent coauthors

• Todd M. Palmer

  University of Cape Town

  150 shared

• Jacob R. Goheen

  Wyoming Department of Education

  128 shared

• Hillary S. Young

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  79 shared

• Truman P. Young

  University of California, Davis

  71 shared

• Tyler R. Kartzinel

  Providence College

  66 shared

• Rodolfo Dirzo

  Stanford University

  41 shared

• Johan Pansu

  Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1

  40 shared

• Roșie Woodroffe

  Zoological Society of London

  36 shared

Labs

• The Pringle LabPI

Education

• Ph.D.

  Stanford University

  2009

• M.Sc.

  Oxford University

  2004

• M.Sc.

  University of Oxford

  2003

• B.A.

  University of Pennsylvania

  2001