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The Koonamore Project: 100 years of research in a short-term rangeland ecology study
Author
Facelli, JM
Ladd, D
Sinclair, R
Publisher
XII International Rangeland Congress
Publication Year
2025
Body

The Koonamore project is based at the Osborn Vegetation Reserve, located in arid lands of South Australia, 350 km NNE from Adelaide. The site was established in a badly degraded corner of a paddock that was fenced off to exclude stock and rabbit grazing in 1925. A series of permanent plots and photopoints have been established at the site and resurveyed regularly. The data collected (which is available for research on request) include location and sizes of trees and long-lived shrubs in several permanent plots, and sequences of photographs for over 40 permanent photopoints. The accumulated information provides important insights on the changes that occur in rangelands when stock and feral grazers are excluded. It also informs us on the dynamic associated to weather fluctuations and trends of climate change. To our knowledge this is the longest running ecological study of rangelands in Australia and one of the oldest in the world. However, as the data shows, this period encompasses just a few generations of several species (e.g. Maireana sedifolia, Sena artemisifolia) and even less than one generation for some of them (e.g. Acacia aneura, Myoporum platycarpum). Given the long life span of key species in the system, and the long term nature of climatic variation, we argue that a century is a relatively short term, and that the project warrants to be continued for at least another 100 years.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Additional Information
This paper is part of the larger XII International Rangelands Congress Proceedings. Page Numbers: 1061-1064. Theme: Theme 4 / Poster presentations – Theme 4
ISSN
978-0-646-72121-7
Conference Name
International Rangeland Congress
Collection
International Rangelands Congress
Keywords
LTER
Chenopod shrublands
stock exclusion
long lived plants