The University of Adelaide - Saltbush Transects, 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.; Saltbush Transects: Four point intercept transects were monitored across the eastern and southern reserve boundary to record the spread of Atriplex species into the TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve.

TGB·奥斯本植被保护区（TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve，亦称为库纳莫尔植被保护区Koonamore Vegetation Reserve, 简称KVR）位于库纳莫尔牧羊场，自20世纪20年代中期起便被围禁放牧。1925年，西奥多·乔治·本特利·奥斯本（Theodore George Bentley Osborn，简称TGB·奥斯本）教授及其团队，将库纳莫尔牧羊场中400公顷严重过度放牧的区域围禁，建立该植被保护区，以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。该围栏最初用于阻挡绵羊，后续也用于阻挡野兔，以促进植被自然更新。由此诞生的库纳莫尔长期植被监测项目至今已持续超过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·奥斯本教授及其团队将植被生态学与野外生理学的研究方向拓展至南澳大利亚州干旱区。1892年，迪克森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导致土壤与植被严重退化。对KVR的创立而言，20世纪早期源自北美研究的植被演替（vegetation succession）新理论同样至关重要。奥斯本尤为关注一个核心问题：家养与野生草食动物的过度放牧，是否会让原生植被通过可识别的演替阶段（seral stage）逐步恢复，亦或是此类变化仅为“人为破坏”，超出了生态学研究的合理范畴？尽管自彼时起，“演替”概念与生态学研究范畴已发生诸多演变，但对“顶级群落演替（succession to climax）”的研究兴趣，正是KVR与同期诸多其他长期植被研究项目的最初动因。

植被演替理论催生了永久性样地（permanent charted quadrat）这一植被变化观测技术。为实现首个研究目标，KVR内布设了大量永久性样地，并辅以一系列固定摄影点位（fixed photopoints）。尽管其中部分样地与点位在五年内便停止了监测，但其余多数仍得到了定期采样，部分点位甚至几乎每年都进行监测，直至今日。相关团队随后发表了多篇综述植被变化进程的早期研究论文。针对第二个研究目标，团队尚未开展相关工作，但基于KVR及其监测记录的物种生态学与种群动态研究仍在持续进行。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成果。

早期监测记录得以延续，很大程度上得益于康斯坦斯·厄德利女士（Constance Eardley）的付出：时任植物学系讲师的她，每年都会组织师生前往保护区开展记录工作并维护KVR的监测体系。但1950年后，采样频率开始下降，20世纪60年代中期更是完全中断了数年。20世纪70年代，拉塞尔·辛克莱博士（Russell Sinclair）重新启动了监测记录项目，并持续开展野兔防控工作。尽管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，通过细致的年度巡检与防控，野兔种群数量被维持在极低水平。自此之后，此前几乎未出现自然更新的数个乔木与灌木物种，出现了显著的幼苗定植现象。目前保护区的监测记录涵盖了超过50年的无绵羊放牧时期，以及其后超过30年的无绵羊与野兔显著放牧时期的植被变化历史。袋鼠与鸸鹋从未被排除在保护区之外，因其可翻越围栏，其种群数量同样随季节波动。目前在辛克莱博士的指导下，KVR的监测工作与记录管理仍在持续进行。该保护区同时用于研究生教学研究，并与怀阿拉附近的米德巴克野外站（Middleback Field Station）的干旱区环境生物学研究方向形成互补。

## 样地描述
该保护区位于库纳莫尔牧羊场的中心区域，该牧羊场为南澳大利亚州阿德莱德东北400公里处的牧羊租赁用地，地理坐标为南纬32°07′、东经139°20′，植被以藜科灌丛为主，年平均降水量约200毫米。该区域由低矮沙丘与沙平原交替构成，过渡平地分布有钙华石灰岩与质地较硬的壤土。区域内的乔木层为低矮疏林群落：沙丘上分布有金合欢属的穆尔加金合欢（Acacia aneura, 俗称mulga）、伯克氏金合欢（A. burkittii）以及杜松属（Eremophila spp.）物种；沙平原上则为密集的贫枝木麻黄（Casuarina pauper, 俗称blackoak, belah）；质地较硬的壤土上则分布有宽叶肉果草（Myoporum platycarpum, 俗称false sandalwood，假檀香）与油叶异木患（Alectryon oleifolius, 俗称bullock bush, rosewood，牛灌丛/玫瑰木）。

林下灌丛在部分区域亦可形成低矮藜科灌丛群落，涵盖囊滨藜（Atriplex vesicaria, 俗称bladder saltbush，膀胱滨藜）、具柄滨藜（A. stipitata）以及银叶绵毛藜（Maireana sedifolia, 俗称bluebush，蓝灌丛）。区域内还分布有大量其他藜科灌木，草本层与一年生短命草本的覆盖度随季节变化显著。此外还分布有决明属（Senna）、杜松属（Eremophila）等多个属的灌木物种。

## 监测活动
在到访TGB·奥斯本植被保护区期间，会开展以下部分或全部监测活动：植被样地监测、固定摄影点位监测、决明属样地（Cassia Corner，决明角）监测、宽叶肉果草植株监测、滨藜样带监测、决明种种群监测、袋鼠样带监测以及野兔活动监测与防控。

## 滨藜样带监测
研究人员在保护区东部与南部边界布设了4个点截法样带（point intercept transects），用于监测滨藜属（Atriplex）物种向TGB·奥斯本植被保护区的扩散情况。