This record is a collection of photopoints from surveys conducted in the TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve (or Koonamore Vegetation Reserve (KVR)) since the early 1900s. Photographs have been taken approximately annually from 1926 until 2024 at a series of set positions (photopoints) by staff and students of the University of Adelaide. The duration of the record available digitally extends from 1907 (observations) to 2008 (photographs). These include stand-alone positions, corners of quadrats and points along transects. Photographs may have been taken in more than one direction at each point, and/or in black and white or colour. Each photograph was annotated according to what could be seen on the photograph, individual species identified, numbers given to each plant (not always reliable from event to event). Occasionally information on canopy diameter measured along EW and NS direction, plant height and plant mortality status is presented.
This is version 2.1 of the TGB Osborn Photopoint data release and supersedes any previous versions. The change log for the data is as follows:
- V2.1, 2026-02-04; Fittock, Specht and Arun Singh Ramesh; Updated dates to comply with ISO standards (YYYY-MM-DD). Clarified anomalies in the record and inserted NA in blank cells, cells with 'no comment' etc.
- V2, 2025-05-27; Alison Specht: cleaned observation data file, correcting scientific names
gathered images, catalogued them, sorted them into those related to measurement types; Miranda Fittock, Wilma Karsdorp and Javier Sanchez Gonzalez: re-named photos to be consistent throughout (photopointID_yyyymmdd). Arranged for them to be uploaded into TERN EcoImages; Fittock and Specht: entered photograph names into observation file and delivered the file to the TERN Data Discovery Portal; Specht: created this metadata file including catalogue of holdings.
- V1, 2008-2014; Russell Sinclair; Digitised field data sheets and computer records delivered to the AEKOS TERN portal. Added required V1 metadata in the AEKOS-TERN portal.
Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Acknowledgement is due to all the students, staff and researchers who have collected data at the site since its establishment, to those who have entered the data, and to the support of funders and interested parties, including the Adelaide University. Without the vision, tenacity, and diligence of many past researchers, these unique data could not have been made openly available.
Purpose
In the mid-1920's Professor Theodore George Bentley Osborn, Professor of Botany in the University of Adelaide, put forward strong scientific arguments concerning the lack of knowledge of the ecology of arid zone vegetation, and the effect of grazing on it.
In 1925, a parcel of land of around 390 ha was identified in Koonamore Station in South Australia and fenced to exclude rabbits and other stock, and Mr Wilcox, one of the directors, had a three-roomed house erected to serve as a field laboratory. The area was originally referred to as the Arid Region Flora Reserve but later was named the TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve after its founder. For simplicity it is commonly referred to as the Koonamore Vegetation Reserve. There have been some unwanted animal incursions over the years, but these have been rare. In 1931, for example, rabbits were able to enter due to fence damage. Kangaroos and emus are not fully excluded.
As is clear from the objectives stated by TGB Osborn, the reserve was to provide the basis for systematic measurements of the now-protected vegetation. Osborn and his team (including Prof. J.G. Wood and Mr Terry Paltridge) set up a series of quadrats (square plots) and photopoints within the reserve. A series of transects was later added. All of the foregoing were permanently marked, and observations on species occurrence (presence and abundance) and physical measurements of the plants were made repeatedly, but at varying intervals.
