South West Australian Transitional Transect (SWATT)

The SWATT is an initiative developed collaboratively by TERN's Australian Transect Network and the Department of Parks and Wildlife, Western Australia (DPaW). The SWATT is one of four national ecological transects or plot networks that traverse key Australian terrestrial ecosystems. The principal purpose of the transects is to measure selected biodiversity attributes along with biophysical processes, that will inform key ecosystem science questions and assist with the development and validation of ecosystem models. Transects will enable benchmarking and subsequent monitoring of trends in ecological condition in response to continental scale biophysical processes such as climate change. The SWATT is located in the south west of Western Australian extending for over 1,200km from Walpole on the south coast to just beyond the former pastoral lease of Lorna Glen and into the Little Sandy Desert. The SWATT incorporates the internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot that is the Southwest Botanical Province (Myers et al. 2000, Hopper P & Gioia 2004), a national biodiversity hotspot (Central and Eastern Avon Wheatbelt) and the evolutionary significant species rich Southwest Interzone (Hopper 1979, Gibson et al. 2010) which includes the globally significant Great Western Woodlands (GWW) (Watson et al. 2009). The SWATT also intercepts another two national significant phytogeographic transitional zone, the Triodia-Acacia line (Beard 1975) and the Menzies line (Butt et al. 1977).SWATT是由TERN的澳大利亚样带网络与西澳大利亚州公园与野生动物部（DPaW）合作发起的监测计划。SWATT是覆盖澳大利亚关键陆地生态系统的四个国家级生态样带或样地网络之一。此类样带的核心宗旨是定量测定选定的生物多样性属性与生物物理过程，为关键生态系统科学问题提供依据，并助力生态系统模型的研发与验证。该样带网络可实现生态系统状况基准的建立，并后续监测其在气候变化等大陆尺度生物物理过程影响下的变化趋势。SWATT坐落于西澳大利亚州西南部，全长逾1200公里，南起南海岸的沃尔波尔（Walpole），向北延伸至洛纳格伦（Lorna Glen）原畜牧租赁用地以外，并直抵小沙沙漠（Little Sandy Desert）。SWATT涵盖了国际公认的生物多样性热点区域——西南植物区（Southwest Botanical Province，Myers et al. 2000, Hopper P & Gioia 2004）、国家级生物多样性热点区域——阿冯小麦带中东部，以及兼具进化重要性的物种丰富型西南过渡带（Southwest Interzone，Hopper 1979, Gibson et al. 2010），其中包含具有全球重要性的大西部林地（Great Western Woodlands，简称GWW，Watson et al. 2009）。此外，SWATT还途经另外两个国家级重要植物地理过渡带：三齿稃-金合欢过渡带（Triodia-Acacia line，Beard 1975）与明齐斯过渡带（Menzies line，Butt et al. 1977）。