The annual scientific meeting of the Society for Tropical Ecology will be take place in Brussels, Belgium (http://www.soctropecol-2017.eu/index.php?cat=show_start), with the theme “(re)connecting tropical biodiversity in space and time”. Several sessions are also relevant for paleofires and for our “crosscutting initiatives” (http://www.gpwg.paleofire.org/category/organisation/), including one on “savanna ecology…