TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Background to Collection
In the mid-1920's Professor Theodore George Bentley (TGB) 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 (Osborn, 1925). In 1925 negotiations proceeded between the University of Adelaide and Messrs Hamilton Wilcox Ltd to secure a parcel of land for the purposes of research on Koonamore Station, a sheep-grazing property approximately 400 km north-east of Adelaide. A parcel of land of around 390ha was identified and fenced to exclude rabbits and other stock. 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.
<br></br>
<p>This record is a collection of flora and fauna observations conducted in the TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve (or Koonamore Vegetation Reserve). </p>
<br></br>These records are organised accordingly :<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li><a href=" https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/90a26f3a-cf42-41e5-ada4-9b0166b15b09 ">Vegetation Quadrats</a></li>
<li> <a href=" https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/05f37d50-935e-4a0a-b45e-cb1b606ce476 ">Photopoints</a></li>
<li> <a href=" https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/c593e881-ddb4-408a-ba5d-6a5f9d258b39 "><em>Cassia</em> Corner</a></li>
<li><a href=" https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/aff278df-c8e8-41ab-b22e-66ea7d466169 "><em>Myoporum platycarpum</em> plant individuals</a> </li>
<li><a href=" https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/615b121a-3c4f-41b5-90f6-1b7e95ce7a9d ">Saltbush Transects</a></li>
<li><a href=" https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/d3e676a3-bf84-439f-ae99-0ce631ec6d64 ">Senna Populations</a></li>
<li><a href=" https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/dfe1b721-19c1-4f88-91c3-23f438c6f 531">Kangaroo Transects</a></li>
<li><a href=" https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/e6448738-d870-432d-9795-955c90f6ee6e ">Rabbit Warren Monitoring</a> </li>
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 1907-07-16
- Date (Publication)
- 2025-07-10
- Date (Revision)
- 2025-12-11
- Edition
- 2
Publisher
Editor
Custodian
Author
Co-author
- Website
- https://www.tern.org.au/
- 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.
- 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.
- Credit
- 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 University of Adelaide.
- Status
- On going
Point of contact
Point of contact
- Topic category
-
- Environment
- Biota
Extent
- Description
- The Reserve is located in the Koonamore Station, a sheep-grazing lease 400 km north-east of Adelaide, South Australia in predominantly chenopod shrubland with mean annual rainfall of about 200mm.
))
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 1907-07-16
- Title
- TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Location Maps 2025 v1
- Website
-
TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Location Maps 2025 v1
Related documentation
- Title
- TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Georeferences 2025 v1
- Website
-
TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Georeferences 2025 v1
Related documentation
- Title
- TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Species List 2025 v1
- Website
-
TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Species List 2025 v1
Related documentation
- Title
- TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Publications 2025 v2
- Website
-
TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, Publications 2025 v2
Related documentation
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
- GCMD Science Keywords
- ANZSRC Fields of Research
- TERN Platform Vocabulary
- TERN Parameter Vocabulary
-
- scientific name
- Unitless
- plant count
- Number
- crown diameter (NS)
- Centimetre
- crown diameter (EW)
- Centimetre
- sex
- Unitless
- plant mortality
- Unitless
- plant height
- Centimetre
- animal life stage
- Unitless
- warren count
- Number
- goat pellet count
- Number
- sheep pellet count
- Number
- animal scat count
- Number
- fresh scat count
- Number
- old scat count
- Number
- QUDT Units of Measure
- GCMD Horizontal Resolution Ranges
- GCMD Temporal Resolution Ranges
- Australian Plant Name Index
- Australian Faunal Directory
- Keywords (Discipline)
-
- KVR
- Long-term Monitoring
- Koonamore Station
- Enclosure
- Grazing Exclusion Experiment
- Flora Surveys
- Fauna Surveys
- Kangaroo Activity
- Senna populations
- Cassia Corner
- Photopoint
- Rabbit Warren
- Myoporum Individual
- Saltbush Transect
- Kangaroo Scat
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and create derivative works provided that they credit the original source and any other nominated parties. Details are provided at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- File name
- 88x31.png
- File description
- CCBy Logo from creativecommons.org
- File type
- png
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
- CC-BY
- Edition
- 4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- TERN services are provided on an "as-is" and "as available" basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. <br />Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN. <br /><br />Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting
- Other constraints
- Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}.
- Other constraints
- Please contact the School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide for permission to access the TGB Osborn VR location.
Resource constraints
- Classification
- Unclassified
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
Distributor
Distributor
- OnLine resource
- TGB Osborn (Koonamore) VR_Collection_Preview_2025_v2
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
Distributor
Distributor
- OnLine resource
- ro-crate-metadata.json
Resource lineage
- Statement
- The data presented throughout is observational. For detailed methodology please refer to each preview document, accessible through the following records:<ul style="list-style-type: disc;"> <li><a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/90a26f3a-cf42-41e5-ada4-9b0166b15b09">Vegetation Quadrats</a></li> <li> <a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/05f37d50-935e-4a0a-b45e-cb1b606ce476">Photopoints</a></li> <li> <a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/c593e881-ddb4-408a-ba5d-6a5f9d258b39"><em>Cassia</em> Corner</a></li> <li><a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/aff278df-c8e8-41ab-b22e-66ea7d466169"><em>Myoporum platycarpum</em> plant individuals</a> </li> <li><a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/615b121a-3c4f-41b5-90f6-1b7e95ce7a9d">Saltbush Transects</a></li> <li><a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/d3e676a3-bf84-439f-ae99-0ce631ec6d64">Senna Populations</a></li> <li><a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/dfe1b721-19c1-4f88-91c3-23f438c6f531">Kangaroo Transects</a></li> <li><a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/e6448738-d870-432d-9795-955c90f6ee6e">Rabbit Warren Monitoring</a> </li>
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Reference System Information
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG/EPSG:4326
- Reference system type
- Geodetic Geographic 2D
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/b5d744de-1ea7-5cb8-9569-0849796d7d7b
- Title
- TERN GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Point of contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Metadata linkage
-
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/b5d744de-1ea7-5cb8-9569-0849796d7d7b
Point-of-truth metadata URL
- Date info (Creation)
- 2025-03-31T00:00:00.000000+00:00
- Date info (Revision)
- 2025-12-11T22:38:29.071351+00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-1:2014/AMD 1:2018 Geographic information - Metadata - Fundamentals
- Edition
- 1
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19115-3:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19157-2:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
- Title
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-3:2016 and ISO 19157-2:2016
- Date (published)
- 2021
- Edition
- 1.0
Identifier
Overviews
Spatial extent
Provided by
