The University of Adelaide - Myoporum platycarpum survey, Koonamore Vegetation Monitoring Project

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.; Myoporum platycarpum: A group of Myoporum platycarpum plants, located in and outside of the vegetation quadrats, have been measured and monitored in the TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve since they were identified in 1962.

TGB奥斯本植被保护区（又名库纳莫尔植被保护区，Koonamore Vegetation Reserve, 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隔离以禁止放牧。1925年，西奥多·乔治·本特利·奥斯本（Theodore George Bentley Osborn，简称TGB奥斯本）教授及其同事将库纳莫尔牧场中400公顷严重过度放牧的区域用围栏圈起，建立了这座植被保护区，用以研究南澳大利亚干旱区移除放牧压力后植被的恢复过程。该围栏最初用于阻挡绵羊，后续也用于阻挡野兔，以促进植被再生。如今，库纳莫尔的长期植被监测项目已开展超过80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奥斯本教授及其同事将其在植被生态学与野外生理学方面的研究拓展至南澳大利亚干旱区。早在1892年，迪克森就曾向南澳大利亚皇家学会警示该区域因畜牧业与其他外来影响导致的土壤与植被严重退化。与库纳莫尔植被保护区（KVR）起源同样关键的，是本世纪早期源自北美研究提出的植被演替新理论。奥斯本尤为关注一个核心问题：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）”恢复原生植被，抑或这些变化只是“人为破坏、完全退化，因而超出了生态学家的研究范畴”。尽管自那时起，“演替（succession）”的概念与生态学的研究范畴已发生诸多演变，但正是对“顶级群落演替（succession to climax）”的兴趣，为库纳莫尔植被保护区以及此后诸多长期植被研究提供了最初的动力。植被演替理论催生了标定永久样方（permanent charted quadrat）这一观测植被变化的技术手段。为实现首个研究目标，研究团队在库纳莫尔植被保护区内设立了一系列大范围永久样方（permanent quadrat），并补充了固定摄影点（fixed photopoints）。尽管其中部分样方在五年内便停止了监测，但其余多数样方均得到了或多或少的定期采样，部分样方几乎每年都会进行监测直至今日。早期已有多篇综述植被变化进程的研究论文发表。第二个研究目标虽未推进，但基于库纳莫尔植被保护区及其监测记录的个体生态学（autecological）与种群动态研究仍在持续进行。参考文献目录完整收录了基于该保护区开展的所有研究出版物。早期监测记录的连续性，很大程度上得益于康斯坦斯·厄德利女士（Miss Constance Eardley）的付出：她时任植物学系讲师期间，组织师生每年到访保护区开展记录与维护工作。然而1950年后，采样频率开始下降，20世纪60年代中期甚至完全中断了数年。1970年代，拉塞尔·辛克莱博士（Dr Russell Sinclair）重新启动了监测项目，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，但野兔从未被彻底根除，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，野兔种群数量被维持在极低水平。自此之后，多种此前几乎未见更新的乔木与灌木物种出现了显著的幼苗定植（seedling establishment）现象。如今保护区的监测记录涵盖了50余年无绵羊放牧、以及其后30余年无绵羊或野兔显著放牧的植被历史。袋鼠与鸸鹋从未被隔离在保护区外，因为它们可以跳过围栏，其种群数量同样随季节变化。目前，库纳莫尔植被保护区的监测工作与记录管理仍在辛克莱博士的指导下持续开展。该保护区同时也用于研究生教学，并补充了位于怀亚拉附近的米德尔巴克野外站（Middleback Field Station）的干旱区环境生物学研究需求。

样地概况：该保护区位于库纳莫尔牧场的中心区域，这片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（纬度32°07'S，经度139°20'E），区域以藜科灌丛为主，年均降水量约200毫米。该区域由低矮沙丘、沙质平原与硬质壤土构成，沙丘间平地分布有钙华石灰岩。乔木覆盖为低矮开阔林分。沙丘上生长着多枝相思（Acacia aneura，mulga）、伯克氏相思（A. burkittii）与爱沙木属（Eremophila spp.）物种；沙质平原上则为密集的黑橡木麻黄（Casuarina pauper，blackoak, belah）林；硬质壤土区域则分布有假檀香肉果草（Myoporum platycarpum，false sandalwood）与牛轭异木患（Alectryon oleifolius，bullock bush, rosewood）组成的混合群落。林下灌木在部分区域也形成低矮藜科灌丛群落，包括膀胱滨藜（Atriplex vesicaria，bladder saltbush）、具柄滨藜（A. stipitata）与蓝马伊菊（Maireana sedifolia，bluebush）。此外还分布有多种其他藜科灌木，草本与一年生草本覆盖度随季节变化。此外还可见多种决明属（Senna）、爱沙木属及其他灌木物种。

监测活动：在到访TGB奥斯本植被保护区期间，会开展以下一项或多项监测工作：植被样方监测、固定摄影点监测、决明角样方（Cassia Corner）监测、假檀香肉果草（Myoporum platycarpum）植株监测、滨藜样带监测、决明属种群监测、袋鼠样带监测、野兔活动监测与防控。

肉果草（Myoporum platycarpum）：自1962年被识别以来，保护区内及植被样方周边的肉果草植株群体便一直被测量与监测。