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Savanna Science Network Meeting 2020

  • Date: 01 March 2020 – 05 March 2020
  • Location: Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre, Skukuza, Kruger National Park

The Savanna Science Network Meeting is the most important annual event for the SANParks Scientific Services Department. It provides an opportunity for SANParks to gauge how effective our research programmes are and also to assess the progress in meeting SANParks‘ objectives for biodiversity conservation. This meeting is intended to encourage researchers and prospective researchers to share ideas, their research findings and to provide a platform for dialogue between scientists. Scientific Services has a strong team of scientists working in different fields who, together with external scientists, conduct research in many topics. These include, for example, biodiversity monitoring, population studies, fire behaviour, vegetation monitoring and aerial game census techniques.


Programme

View/Download the SSMN 2020 Programme


Presentations

  1. Benjamin Wigley: Grasses trump trees at soil carbon sequestration following herbivore exclusion in semi-arid savanna
  2. Johna Turner: Observing the dynamics of a wetland system in an arid savanna: The pans of the Makuleke Ramsar Wetlands
  3. Lochran Traill: On the use of functional traits to construct a generalised herbivore model
  4. Lydia Tiller: Using elephant tracking data to understand and mitigate human-elephant conflict in Kenya
  5. Mariska te Beest: Effects of fire and experimental warming in Afromontane grasslands
  6. Hendrik Sithole: A Decade of Assessing Human and Climatic Influences on the Macroinvertebrates of Kruger Rivers
  7. Purvance Shikwambana: The Kruger National Park Unspared from Riverine Microplastic Pollution
  8. Simon Scheiter: Ecosystems driven by disturbance are committed to larger changes under elevated CO2
  9. Montagu Murray: Savanna Science Network Meeting Views on responsible tourism and carbon footprint offsetting
  10. Marlize Muller: Grassland diversity and functioning under increased climate and land-use change in South Africa
  11. Fezile Mtsetfwa: Decoupling of keystone structures in a Marula/knobthorn savanna in response to climate and land use changes: Eswatini
  12. Robert McCleery: Environmental Properties Facilitate Animal Community Recovery from Extreme Events
  13. Soizig Le Stradic: How fire history impacts biomass allocation and root morphological traits in Cerrado
  14. Yao Anicet Gervais Kouame: How big is the iceberg underwater? Evaluating roots biomass from aboveground traits in savanna trees
  15. Gareth Hempson: Long-term herbivore population trends and spatial dynamics across Kruger and the adjoining private game reserves
  16. Loewan Erasmus: Teatime in Kruger: best practices for applying the Tea Bag Index in an African savanna context
  17. Joris Cromsigt: Predation risk may constrain herbivores’ capacity to adapt to warming
  18. Ewan Brennan: Application of a Human-Elephant Conflict Toolbox for Developing Coexistence in Rural Kenya
  19. Melinda Boyers: How do wildebeest adjust their movement behaviour to cope with extremes of temperature and aridity? A Kruger – Kalahari comparison
  20. Sarah Bonney: Ant suppression has little effect on termite activity and plant decomposition
  21. Aline Bombo: Going under: Is resprout ability affected by fire and herbivory in semi-arid savannas?
  22. Sandra Barnard: The impact of landuse and climate on the water quality of the Sabie River
  23. Alan Andersen: Incorporating invertebrates into biodiversity surveys for conservation planning
  24. Vagner Zanzarini: Grass traits variability influences flammability in open savannas in the Cerrado
  25. Gianluca Zaffarano: Preliminary data on prevalence of Echinococcus granulosus in warthogs of the Kruger National Park: a One Health perspective
  26. Camille Vitet: No evidence for dilution and detection effects of group size on behavior and survival of plains zebra under predation risk
  27. Wally van Sickle: Idea Wild and funding opportunities for researchers in developing countries
  28. Helga van Coller: Large mammals mediate soil characteristics in a nutrient-rich sodic savanna
  29. Anna Treydte: Should I graze or should I go?
  30. Kyle Tomlinson: The ecology and evolution of spiny plants
  31. Jasper Slingsby: Using ignition catchments to predict human impacts on fire
  32. Frances Siebert: The contribution of forbs to the dry season diet of elephant, impala and cattle in a semi-arid savanna
  33. Adrian Shrader: Trade-offs between anti-predator and social vigilance by impala
  34. Peter Scogings: Phenols, spines, and diet preference of black rhino
  35. Elise Say-Sallaz: Anti-predator behavioural responses of Zebra (Equus quagga) to two predators with contrasted hunting modes
  36. Rebecca Muller: Giraffes and Vegetation Structure in Arid Savannas
  37. Tamera Minnick: Linking resistance and resilience in arid and semiarid environments to heterogeneity of vegetation and soils: Species matter
  38. Julia Mata: Capybara grazing lawns in a South American savanna
  39. Theodore Lefebvre: The world of spiny trunk trees
  40. Kimberly Ledger: Tick response to megafauna exclusion in an African savanna
  41. Duncan Kimuyu: Interactions between livestock, wildlife, and fire: Lessons from the Kenya Longterm Exclosure Experiment (KLEE)
  42. Edmund February: The relationship between grass functional traits, soil nutrients and grazer densities in the KNP
  43. Huan Fan: Impact of seasonality on gut microbiota of free-ranging herbivores
  44. Gabriella Damasceno: The presence of invasive grasses changes flammability of open savannas in the Cerrado
  45. Alexandra Connolly: Why do some African acacias have a flat top?
  46. Anabelle Cardoso: What stops fire spreading?
  47. Twane Bester: Do individual monoterpenes influence elephant diet choice?
  48. Jean- Philippe Akpoué: A model of tree resprout biomass allocation in a fireprone savanna A model of tree resprout biomass allocation in a fireprone savanna
  49. Matthew Wood: Can elephants use olfactory cues to detect water?
  50. Donovan Tye: Drivers of population dynamics in an invasive parthenogenetic snail in Southern Kruger National Park
  51. Ulfia Lenfers: Bush encroachment, tree damage, and coppicing. Final results of an agent-based model comparison inside and outside the Kruger Nationalpark
  52. Greg Kiker: The OpenSavanna Modelling Initiative: Supporting ecosystem modelling for adaptive management
  53. Andreas Kaiser: Rainfall and runoff experiments to learn about the erodibility of soils within the southern part of Kruger National Park, South Africa
  54. Louise Swemmer: Not everything is as it seems: Visitor perceptions of extractive resource use, Kruger National Park
  55. Izak Smit: Conservation Framings – are we diverse in opinion or are we at conflict with ourselves?
  56. Charlotte Searle: Drivers of leopard habitat use and relative abundance in the southern KAZA TFCA
  57. Manaswi Raghurama: Impacts of Nitrogen-fixing invasive plants on nutrient cycling and outflow in a tropical montane forest-grassland mosaic in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, India
  58. Michelle Pretorius: Mesocarnivores in Protected Areas
  59. Margarita Mulero-Pázmány: Species traits as predictors of road-avoidance responses in African ungulates
  60. Mochammad Iqbal: Homerange study on Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas) using GPS collar in Baluran National Park, East Java
  61. Olli Hyvarinen: Vegetation dynamics in the face of a major land use change: a 30- year case study from semi-arid South Africa
  62. Kai Heckel: Creation of a very high-resolution digital surface model of the Kruger National Park from CD-NGI aerial imagery using PCI GXL
  63. Llewellyn Foxcroft: Alien plants in Kruger National Park: assessing future trends as a basis for management interventions
  64. Sam Ferreira: Conservation my lucky ass – do you have skin in the game?
  65. Gregor Feig: Expanded Freshwater and Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network (EFTEON)
  66. Andrew Davies: Mound-building termites and anthropogenic land-use
  67. Blair Cowie: How land management influences Parthenium invasion
  68. Tim Coulson: Synthesizing individual, population, community, and landscape level data to aid management of savanna ecosystems
  69. Mary Burak: Human Effects on the Spatial-Genetic Structure of Lions in Kenya’s Ewaso Ecosystem
  70. Michael Brett: How Critical Theory provides useful insights into dramatic shifts in protected area management
  71. Jussi Baade: In situ Measurements on Land Surface Dynamics in Pristine Environments – CO-LD-EMS First Years Activities
  72. Nikhail Arumoogum: Temporal variation in predictors of habitat selection in sable antelope
  73. Richard Alward: Tree Canopy Removal Releases Shrub Understory: Monitoring restoration success using drones in western Colorado, USA
  74. Jacques Gignoux: 58 years of research at Lamto (Côte d’Ivoire): historical and recent advances
  75. Karin Hannweg: Expanding Warburgia salutaris conservation in southern Africa: a case study in Zimbabwe
  76. Sarah Konaré : Ammonium-Nitrate partitioning can favour tree-grass coexistence in an African humid savanna
  77. R. Sedricke Lapuz: Mapping potential Southeast Asian savannas using species distribution models and plant functional trait distributions
  78. Jean-Christophe Lata: Role of the biological control of nitrogen cycle on savanna grass-trees competition and coexistence
  79. Tiffany Pillay: Soil, litter and plant dynamics across a precipitation gradient: the effects of fertilization and woody plant encroachment
  80. Melissa Schmitt: Managing for ecological complexity of savanna communities revealed through herbivore and habitat structure
  81. Felix V. Skhosana: A systematic review of the impacts of woody encroachment on ecosystem services in African and North American savannas and grasslands
  82. William Bond: Trees for Africa: a critique of tree planting to reduce atmospheric carbon
  83. Monique Botha: Trade-offs between biomass loss tolerance and shade tolerance in African tree seedlings
  84. Case Madelon: Savanna tree and grass root-niche separation varies with soil texture and rainfall
  85. Charles-Dominique Tristan: Savannas and open Biomes in South China
  86. Corli Coetsee: Bloom or bust – woody flowering strategies in Kruger National Park
  87. Alessandra Fidelis: And after fire… the Cerrado is flowering
  88. Nicola Stevens: Understanding the range determinants of Colophospermum mopane
  89. Paolo Strampelli: Carnivores in complex landscapes
  90. Kaylee van den Bosch: An assessment of the reproductive ecology of the Pepperbark tree (Warburgia salutaris) in the Kruger National Park, South Africa
  91. Susi Vetter: From bush encroachment to biome shift: the ecology of thicket pioneers
  92. Graham von Maltitz: Rethinking what we mean by degradation in South Africa and the importance of conservation areas as baselines against which to monitor it
  93. Joseph White: Mapping the risk of woody plant encroachment for provisioning ecosystem services
  94. Guin Zambatis: A Walk down Memory Lane