The role of fire in the maintenance of structure and function in African savannas is probably the oldest issue in savanna ecology, but certain aspects remain contentious (Phillips 1965, 1968; West 1965; Rose-Innes 1972; Gillon 1983). One point of view, nothing the ubiquitous occurrence of fires in savannas and the tendency for woody plant density in savannas to increase when fires are excluded, concludes that savannas are fire subclimaxes to woodland or forest. Another view stresses the long history of fire in Africa, with the numerous plant adaptations to surviving fires, and presents fire as a modifier of savanna structure rather than a primary determinant of savanna distribution (Frost et al. 1986). Attitudes towards the use of fire as a management tool in savannas have ranged from pyromania to pyrophobia.

Although fire ecology has been an important theme in southern African ecological research (Booysen & Tainton 1984), it was never a major focus of the Savanna Biome Programme. This was more because the topic was receiving attention in other programmes, rather than a belief that fire was unimportant in savanna ecology. However, controlled burning is part of the management system in the Nylsvley Nature Reserve, and several researchers occupied with other projects examined the effect of management fires on the topic of their interest. Mark Gandar synthesised the results of several studies on the fires of September 1978 (Gandar 1982c), and Peter Frost reviewed the effects of fire on savanna organisms in general (Frost 1984, 1985b).