Photopoints, Koonamore Vegetation Monitoring Project (1925-present)

The TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve (or Koonamore Vegetation Reserve (KVR)) is a protected area on Koonamore Station which has been fenced off from grazing since the mid 1920's. In 1925, Professor Theodore George Bentley (TGB) Osborn and his colleagues established a vegetation reserve by fencing off 400 ha of a badly overgrazed portion of the Koonamore station to study the process of recovery of vegetation in the arid zone of South Australia after the removal of grazing pressure. The fence was established to initially keep sheep and later also rabbits from the reserve and allow vegetation regeneration. The resulting long-term vegetation monitoring project at Koonamore is now over 80 years old, making it one of the longest-running monitoring series of its type in the world.; Reserve History: In the mid 1920's Professor TGB Osborn and his colleagues extended their interests in ecology and field physiology of vegetation to the arid zone of South Australia. In 1892 Dixon had warned the Royal Society of South Australia of serious degradation of the soils and vegetation resulting from pastoralism and other alien influences in the region. Equally important to the origin of KVR was the new theory of vegetation succession derived from North American work early in the century. Osborn was particularly concerned with the question as to whether overgrazing by domestic and feral herbivores would result in return of the original vegetation via recognisable 'seral' stages, or whether the changes were ?artificial, mere destructions and as such outside the ecologist's proper field?. Although the concepts of 'succession' and the scope of ecology have developed and changed much since that time, nevertheless it was interest in 'succession to climax' that gave the initial impetus to KVR and many other long-term vegetation studies from that time. The theory of vegetation succession gave rise to the permanent charted quadrat as a technique for observing vegetation change. An extensive series of permanent quadrats was set up on KVR and supplemented by a series of fixed photopoints, in order to pursue the first aim. Although some of these were allowed to lapse within five years, many others were sampled more or less regularly, some almost annually up to the present. Several early publications reviewing the progress of vegetation change resulted. Nothing was done towards the second aim but autecological and population dynamics studies are still being carried out, based on KVR and its records. The Bibliography contains a complete listing of research publications arising from work done on the Reserve. Much of the continuity of the earlier records is due to the efforts of Miss Constance Eardley, who while a lecturer in the Department of Botany, organised annual visits of students and staff to take records and maintain KVR. However, after 1950 the rate of sampling had begun to decline and in the mid 1960's ceased altogether for a period of several years. In the 1970's Dr Russell Sinclair reactivated the recording programme and also began a sustained effort at rabbit control. Although the Reserve was originally fenced with rabbit-proof netting, the rabbits were never eradicated and the population has fluctuated greatly with the seasons. Beginning in 1975, numbers have been kept very low by careful annual inspection and control. Since that time there has been marked seedling establishment of several tree and shrub species which showed little previous regeneration. The Reserve records now contain a history of the vegetation over 50 years without sheep grazing followed by over 30 years without significant grazing by either sheep or rabbits. Kangaroos and emus have never been excluded from the Reserve, as they can jump the fence, and their numbers vary with the seasons. The monitoring work at KVR and the curation of its records is continuing under the direction of Dr Sinclair. The Reserve is also used for post-graduate study and complements the arid-zone research interests of Environmental Biology at the Middleback Field Sation near Whyalla.; Site Description: The Reserve is located in the centre of Koonamore Station, a sheep-grazing lease 400 km north-east of Adelaide, South Australia (Lat. 32º07'S, Long. 139º20'E) in predominantly chenopod shrubland with mean annual rainfall of about 200mm. The area consists of a complex of low sand dunes alternating with sand plain and harder loam soils with travertine limestone on the intervening flats. The tree cover is a low open woodland formation. The sand dunes carry Acacia aneura (mulga), A. burkittii and Eremophila spp., the sand plain a dense stand of Casuarina pauper (blackoak, belah), and the harder loam soils a mixed community of Myoporum platycarpum (false sandalwood) and Alectryon oleifolius (bullock bush, rosewood). Understorey shrubs, which also form low chenopod shrubland communities in some areas, include Atriplex vesicaria (bladder saltbush), A. stipitata and Maireana sedifolia (bluebush). Numerous other chenopodiaceous shrubs also occur, and grass and ephemeral herb cover varies with the seasons. Several species of Senna, Eremophila and other shrubs also occur.; Monitoring activities: Some or all of the following monitoring activities are carried out during visits to the TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve: Vegetation Quadrats, Photopoints, Senna Quadrat (Cassia Corner), Myoporum platycarpum Plants, Saltbush Transects, Senna Populations, Kangaroo Transects, Rabbit Activity Monitoring and Control.; Photopoints: Site photos are taken at various free-standing photopoints, vegetation quadrats and transects across the TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve. Videos produced by Dean Graetz based on the repeat photographs taken at the different photopoints can be accessed at 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRT7ZWkN70A Please use the following URL to access the dataset: http://aekos.org.au/collection/adelaide.edu.au/Koonamore/PhotopointsTGB奥斯本植被保护区（TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve，又称库纳莫尔植被保护区Koonamore Vegetation Reserve，缩写KVR）是位于库纳莫尔牧场的受保护区域，自20世纪20年代中期起便被围栏阻隔以禁止放牧。1925年，西奥多·乔治·本特利·奥斯本（Theodore George Bentley Osborn，缩写TGB奥斯本）教授及其同事，通过将库纳莫尔牧场内400公顷严重过度放牧的区域用围栏圈占，建立了该植被保护区，旨在研究南澳大利亚州干旱区移除放牧压力后植被的恢复过程。该围栏最初用于阻隔绵羊，后续新增了阻挡野兔的功能，以助力植被恢复。如今，库纳莫尔地区的长期植被监测项目已开展80余年，是全球同类持续时间最长的监测序列之一。 保护区历史：20世纪20年代中期，TGB奥斯本教授及其团队将其在植被生态学与野外生理生态学领域的研究兴趣拓展至南澳干旱区。1892年，迪克森（Dixon）曾向南澳大利亚皇家学会警示：该区域因畜牧活动及其他外来干扰，出现了严重的土壤与植被退化问题。对KVR的创立而言，同样关键的是20世纪早期源自北美研究的植被演替新理论。奥斯本尤为关注一个核心议题：家畜与野生植食动物的过度放牧，是否会通过可识别的“演替系列阶段（seral stages）”促成原生植被的恢复，抑或这些变化仅为“人为的单纯破坏”，从而超出了生态学家的研究范畴？尽管自彼时起，“演替”的概念与生态学的研究范畴已发生诸多演变，但对“顶级群落演替”的研究兴趣，正是推动KVR及当时诸多其他长期植被研究项目启动的最初动力。植被演替理论催生了永久性样方（permanent charted quadrat）这一植被变化观测技术。为达成首个研究目标，团队在KVR内布设了大量永久性样方，并辅以一系列固定摄影点。尽管其中部分样方与摄影点在5年内便停止了观测，但其余多数均得到了或多或少的定期采样，部分点位甚至近乎每年监测一次，直至今日。相关团队先后发表了多篇综述植被变化进程的早期研究成果。针对第二个研究目标，团队始终未开展相关工作，但基于KVR及其观测记录的物种生态学与种群动态研究至今仍在持续。本数据集的参考文献部分完整收录了所有基于该保护区开展的研究出版物。早期观测记录得以保持连续性，很大程度上归功于康斯坦斯·厄德利（Constance Eardley）女士的付出：她时任植物学系讲师期间，每年都会组织师生前往保护区开展观测记录与维护工作。但1950年后，采样频率开始下降，至20世纪60年代中期，监测工作一度完全中断数年之久。20世纪70年代，拉塞尔·辛克莱尔（Russell Sinclair）博士重新启动了观测记录项目，并开始持续开展野兔防控工作。尽管该保护区最初使用防兔围栏，但野兔始终未被彻底根除，其种群数量随季节波动剧烈。自1975年起，通过每年细致的巡查与防控，野兔种群数量始终维持在极低水平。自此之后，多种此前几乎未见自然更新的乔木与灌木物种出现了显著的幼苗定植现象。目前保护区的观测记录涵盖了超过50年的无绵羊放牧植被历史，以及随后超过30年的无绵羊与野兔显著放牧的植被演变历程。袋鼠与鸸鹋从未被阻隔在保护区外，因其可跳跃翻越围栏，其种群数量同样随季节波动。目前，在辛克莱尔博士的指导下，KVR的监测工作与记录管理仍在持续推进。该保护区同时用于研究生教学研究，并可补充怀阿拉附近的米德巴克野外实验站（Middleback Field Station）环境生物学方向的干旱区研究需求。 场地概况：该保护区位于库纳莫尔牧场的中心区域，该牧场为绵羊放牧租赁地，地处南澳大利亚州阿德莱德东北400公里处（地理坐标：南纬32°07′，东经139°20′），区域植被以藜科灌丛为主，年平均降雨量约200毫米。该区域地貌由低矮沙丘、沙地平原与硬质壤土交错构成，台地间平地覆盖有钙华石灰岩。区域内的乔木覆盖为低矮疏林群落：沙丘上分布有穆尔加金合欢（Acacia aneura，俗称mulga）、伯基特金合欢（A. burkittii）以及苦槛蓝属（Eremophila）物种；沙地平原上则密生贫木麻黄（Casuarina pauper，俗称黑栎、贝拉木）；硬质壤土区域则生长有宽果怪木（Myoporum platycarpum，俗称假檀香木）与油叶阿利特里亚（Alectryon oleifolius，俗称牛鞭木、玫瑰木）组成的混合群落。林下灌丛在部分区域也形成低矮藜科灌丛群落，包括囊滨藜（Atriplex vesicaria，俗称膀胱盐肤木）、具柄滨藜（A. stipitata）以及银叶梅登草（Maireana sedifolia，俗称蓝灌木）。区域内还分布有多种其他藜科灌木，草本与一年生草本植被覆盖度随季节变化显著。此外区域内还分布有决明属（Senna）、苦槛蓝属（Eremophila）等多个属的灌木物种。 监测活动：在前往TGB奥斯本植被保护区的考察中，会开展以下一项或多项监测工作：植被样方调查、固定摄影点监测、决明属样方（Senna Quadrat，又称决明角Cassia Corner）、宽果怪木植株监测、盐肤木样带调查、决明属种群监测、袋鼠样带调查以及野兔活动监测与防控。 固定摄影点：研究团队会在TGB奥斯本植被保护区内的多个独立固定摄影点、植被样方及样带处拍摄场地照片。迪恩·格雷茨（Dean Graetz）基于不同摄影点的重复拍摄影像制作的视频，可通过以下链接获取：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRT7ZWkN70A。本数据集的官方获取链接为：http://aekos.org.au/collection/adelaide.edu.au/Koonamore/Photopoints