KKE01 The Konza-Kruger Experiment: A cross-continental fire and grazing experiment at Konza Prairie

For more than a decade, we have compared responses of mesic (subhumid) savanna grasslands (>500 mm MAP in the tropics and >600 mm MAP outside the tropics) in North America and South Africa to alterations in both fire and grazing regimes. The long-term, comparative experiment that forms the centerpiece of this cross-continental research program is located in tallgrass prairie at the Konza Prairie Biological Station (Kansas, USA) and in knob-thorn marula savanna at the Kruger National Park (Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa). We refer to this study as the Konza-Kruger (K-K) Experiment. At both sites, we have been manipulating grazing by removing all large herbivores (>5 kg) from research plots with permanent exclosures (each with a paired plot that grazers can freely access). These exclosures were established in replicated fire frequency experiments ongoing at each site (treatments range from >25-50 yrs of annual burning, burning every 3-4 yrs, or complete fire exclusion).