Taita Research Station

The Taita Research Station is a multidisciplinary research centre situated in the in Kenyan Taita Hills and owned by the University of Helsinki. This station, opened in 2011, is administrated by the Department of Geosciences and Geography of the Faculty of Science of the University of Helsinki. The Taita Research Station serves as a natural laboratory, ideally suited for research projects in fields such as natural sciences, social sciences, ecology and evolutionary biology, plant and animal systematics, and microbial ecology. The Taita Hills are one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, and many endemic plant and animal species live in its surroundings. The area is particularly interesting due to changes in its natural conditions caused by topographic variation (500 m up to 2,200 m) affecting the climate, flora, land use and human activities.