The annual Indibano organised by NRF-SAEON’s Graduate Student Network brought together emerging researchers from across South Africa to exchange knowledge on long-term ecological monitoring, water security and climate adaptation. 

Sessions examined how biodiversity, soil carbon and water delivery are tightly interconnected, demonstrating that healthy grasslands enhance soil carbon storage, regulate hydrological processes and sustain water availability. Speakers emphasised that altered fire regimes reshape vegetation structure, disrupt carbon cycling and affect hydrological balance. Discussions on data-driven monitoring highlighted the importance of integrating high-resolution ecological datasets with climate models to guide restoration and land-use planning across South Africa’s Strategic Water Source Areas, where ecological integrity underpins long-term water security.

Representing SAEON’s Grasslands Node, PhD student Ameera Yacoob received first prize for Best Presentation for her MSc research, which used UAV-based multispectral imagery to quantify crop water stress in smallholder farms. Her work demonstrated how precision remote sensing can provide early field-level insights into crop water status, supporting timely decision-making in resource-constrained farming systems.

Grasslands Node coordinator Sue van Rensburg presented SAEON’s terrestrial research platforms, which track biodiversity shifts, carbon dynamics and climate extremes across the Cathedral Peak catchments and the Maputaland coastal plain. She encouraged postgraduate students to leverage these platforms to advance understanding of global change impacts.

Field excursion

The field excursion, jointly hosted by EFTEON’s Northern Drakensberg Landscape and SAEON’s Grasslands Node, offered hands-on exposure to environmental monitoring platforms. The group visited the Eskom Drakensberg Visitors Centre to learn about the water-energy nexus, followed by site visits where Dr Amukelani Maluleke and PhD student Toka Mosikidi described acoustic biodiversity monitoring and weather instrumentation. Dr Michele Toucher, Dr Kathleen Smart and Sachin Doarsamy demonstrated eddy covariance flux towers and other long-term ecosystem monitoring instruments.

The Indibano provided ample opportunities for networking and collaboration, enabling students to engage with environmental scientists and explore interdisciplinary approaches to tackling South Africa’s most pressing ecological and hydrological challenges.