We are pleased to invite you to submit abstracts for the 2027 Savanna Science Networking Meeting. This year’s meeting will centre on 9 themes that reflect the pressing challenges and opportunities faced by savanna ecosystems in southern Africa and beyond, framed within a broader social–ecological context.
The themes span ecological, cultural, technological, and governance dimensions, and we encourage contributions that bring fresh perspectives, novel data, or innovative approaches. We as SANParks welcome work from savanna systems globally to learn how workable solutions to problems facing savannas across continents can be translated to southern African savanna systems, and to reflect on how a better understanding of savanna ecology, social-ecological systems, and cultural dimensions can result in forward looking and pro-active responses to challenges.
We invite you to carefully read through the themes below and select the one that best reflects your research or insights. Submissions that do not align with existing themes may be used to shape new discussions once all abstracts have been reviewed (i.e., Theme 9). Your contribution will help deepen understanding, foster collaboration, and chart pathways for managing resilient savanna landscapes into the future.
1. Science as a management tool – We conduct research to uncover new facts, solve complex problems, and make informed, evidence-based decisions. It satisfies our natural curiosity, drives societal and technological innovation, and equips us with the critical thinking skills needed to navigate a rapidly changing world. The Savanna Science Networking covers hundreds of presentations each year, a contribution that should be celebrated. However, protected areas remain under threat from a variety of places. This theme encourages submissions of research that has the potential to inform short, medium, and long-term social and or ecological management strategies that address threats to the social and/or ecological systems in and around protected areas. Whether it’s about understanding stakeholder perceptions of protected area management decisions, documenting the reaction of large herbivores to human wildlife conflict mitigation strategies, measuring the impact of bush clearing or exploring the impact of anti-poaching approaches and processes, we look forward to welcoming you to be part of this dynamic session.
2. Conservation Intelligence: From Data to Decisions – This theme explores innovative approaches to collecting, integrating, and analysing spatial and environmental data to transform data into conservation intelligence that supports savanna research and management. Contributions may include emerging technologies, Earth observation, spatial analytics, artificial intelligence, ecological modelling, digital decision-support systems, and innovative data integration approaches that enhance ecological understanding and conservation practice. Presentations should emphasise methodological or technological innovation, analytical advances or decision-support applications rather than species- or ecosystem-specific ecological findings alone.
3. Changing Landscapes: Birds and Small Vertebrates as Indicators of Environmental Change – Environmental change is reshaping landscapes across Africa, with major consequences for biodiversity, ecosystem function and the animal communities they support. Birds and other small vertebrates are often among the first species to respond to such change, making them valuable indicators of ecosystem health and resilience. This session explores how drivers such as bush encroachment, altered river systems, habitat fragmentation and invasive species are reshaping these communities and what these responses mean for conservation and management.
4. Advancing Fire Science for Conservation Management – Fire is a natural and common occurrence in many fire-prone ecosystems around the world. Research has explored aspects on the role of fire in various landscapes, such as how fire drives vegetation patterns, how herbivores and vegetation drive fire patterns, how herbivores use a burned landscape and how fires influence soil properties. While we’ve made significant strides, our understanding of fire’s role isn’t complete. For instance, we’re still gaining a better grasp of how different fire regimes affect emissions from savanna ecosystems and how society perceives using fire as a management tool. This theme explores all the various facets of fire—both as a force of nature that drives ecosystems and as an influence on global processes and society.
5. The Future of Freshwater – The phrase “Water is life” has been used so many times, its profound meaning may have lost its ability to inspire and resonate with society. Yet water remains the foundation of life, sustaining people, animals and plants, while supporting agriculture, industry, livelihoods and economic development. Balancing the competing needs of the environment, society and the economy is a challenge, especially in a rapidly changing world. This session seeks to bridge science and management by exploring the sustainable management of water resources across local and regional catchments, alongside advances in freshwater ecology and the natural and human-driven processes that shape aquatic ecosystems. By bringing together researchers, practitioners and decision-makers, the session aims to foster evidence-based approaches that support resilient freshwater ecosystems and sustainable water resource management.
6. Restoring Free-Flowing Rivers to improving river connectivity and biodiversity- The removal of obsolete structures to restore river connectivity has proven to be a highly successful restoration tool and continues to gain increasing attention. Poor connectivity impedes the persistence of freshwater fauna, particularly migratory species. As such, removing obsolete barriers, installing fishways, and upgrading or maintaining other instream structures are vital steps in improving river connectivity. This session will explore the restoration of river connectivity and Free-Flowing Rivers. Topics of interest include barrier inventories, restoration techniques, and socio-economic perspectives, as well as the ecological benefits of reconnecting fragmented river systems. We also welcome case studies and policy analyses aimed at restoring natural hydrological processes, habitats, and ecosystem services.
7. The unexpected adventures of conservation success: Large mammals in shared and changing landscapes – Conservation success is something to celebrate, but success can also make life interesting. Across southern Africa including the Greater Kruger Region, some large-mammal populations have recovered and expanded within protected and connected landscapes. As their numbers and distributions change, animals change where they go, what they do and who they bump into along the way. The consequences for ecosystems and people can be positive, negative, or simply different from what we expected. This theme asks what happens when conservation works, and how we make the most of it:
- Room to roam: How can landscapes allow large mammals to move, disperse and find the resources they need?
- Changing neighbourhoods: What happens to habitats and other species when large mammals change where and how they use landscapes?
- Living together: How can interactions between people and wildlife create opportunities and benefits while limiting unwanted consequences?
- Success brings surprises: What can recovering populations teach us about anticipating and managing conservation success?
- A changing climate: How do shifts in water, food and climate change where animals go and what happens when they get there?
- Beyond counting heads: Can knowing where animals spend their time and what they do there tell us more than numbers alone?
- Deciding together: How can shared and legitimate decisions help people and large mammals thrive in the same landscapes?
8. The Forces Reshaping Savanna Vegetation – Savanna vegetation is shaped by multiple interacting biotic and abiotic drivers that generate the structural and compositional heterogeneity characteristic of these ecosystems. This theme explores the principal forces influencing savanna dynamics, including herbivory, drought, climate, soils, and their interactions across spatial and temporal scales (not fire though, which will be covered in another theme). It examines how these drivers influence vegetation patterns and processes, including woody encroachment, shifts in species composition, changes in herbivore communities, and the feedbacks between vegetation and herbivores. The theme also welcomes contributions that investigate how changing vegetation structure and composition affect ecosystem functioning, including soil and ecosystem carbon dynamics and storage.
9. Additional Topics – Any additional abstracts that don’t fit within the themes above.
We encourage all delegates to reach out to the session convenors with questions, ideas, or clarifications about how their work aligns with the themes, and to explore opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange.