By Anya Courtenay and Caroline Lehmann

We spent two weeks in Kruger National Park learning lots at the 22nd savanna science network meeting, seeing incredible wildlife and introducing the Global Grassy Group protocol on the experimental burn plots. As part of this, we also trained SANParks colleagues and technicians in the GGG protocol for use in their long-term monitoring efforts.

Working with members of the South African National Parks Scientific Services Department, we collected data about the ecology and composition of herbaceous plant communities across four fire regimes. About 150 species were recorded, using the Skukuza herbarium to check the names of our pressed specimens.

We plan to carry out training on sampling ground-layer diversity again in Kruger next March, so do reach out if you are interested in joining us for some fun science and plenty of grasses!

Thank you to Corli Wigley-Coetsee, Noel Nzima, Khensani Mkhonto, Isaac Sedibe, Nikisha Singh, Jone Fernando, Adam Devenish, Jakub Wieczorkowski and Sally Archibald for working with us.

GGG is a network of ecologists & biologists working to standardise and improve vegetation sampling in grassy biomes. Want to contribute your data?  Check out our participation guide and get in touch! https://globalgrassygroup.github.io