Exploring Nutrient Cycling in the Waterberg, South Africa

In February, Ecosystems Lead Yadvinder Malhi and former Ecosystems postdoctoral researcher Eleanor Thomson embarked on a field trip to visit a new project site in the Kaingo Reserve in the Waterberg region of South Africa. Working alongside the project's principal investigator, Professor Kate Parr of Liverpool University, and collaborator Mark Robertson (University of Pretoria), they helped lay the groundwork for a new ecological research project - 'The Green Stuff Project'.

Yadvinder, Eleanor Kate and Mark together with Mark's field team of students and researchers at their study site in Kaingo Reserve in the Waterberg, South Africa.

The project focuses on understanding the roles of small and large animals in shaping ecosystems. The goal of the project is to determine how the 'green stuff' (vegetation), and the nutrients locked up inside of them, cycles through an ecosystem - whether through herbivores, fire or decomposition. It includes 16 experimental plots: four control plots, four termite exclusion plots, four mammal exclusion plots, and four plots excluding both termites and mammals. These exclusion experiments will begin later this year, with monitoring continuing in the years to come.

Project Principal Investigator, Kate Parr, explains the aim of her latest research project, 'The Green Stuff Project'.

Left: Yadvinder and Eleanor flying the drone over the study plots.

Middle: Yadvinder and Eleanor preparing to fly the drone over the study plots.

Right: Yadvinder and Kate sanding next to a termite mound in the Waterberg.

During their visit, Yadvinder, Eleanor, and Kate collected baseline data critical to tracking future changes. They gathered soil, leaf, branch, tree core, root, and grass samples to analyze nutrient content, providing insights into how nutrients shift across experimental treatments. In addition, the team piloted a brand new DJI Mavic 3 multispectral drone, capturing high-resolution imagery of the landscapes to monitor changes over time.

Yadvinder and Eleanor show how they calibrate and fly the DJI Mavic 3 multispectral drone over the study plots.

This collaborative effort sets the stage for advancing our understanding of nutrient cycling in ecosystems, offering invaluable data on the interplay between animals and their environments.

Eleanor demonstrates how she collects tree core samples in the field.

Mark and Yadvinder show how root samples are taken from the base of trees.