Now for something a little different.
If no-one really gets why I feel that ecological studies are so
important, and why I do what I do, this video clearly demonstrates why
(for more background look for video 01 in the series)
This is a
time-lapse of still photography taken at Koonamore Vegetation Reserve in
South Australia's North-East Pastoral District. It is a project run and
managed by University of Adelaide researchers, and has been ongoing
since 1926.
Every year, a field trip heads up there to re-assess the
original quadrats established at particular sites, to record the
vegetation present. Each year the same fixed quadrats and photopoints
are recorded, meaning if you've got a small tree on the left and a large
one on the right, it's two photos of the same tree taken at different
points in time. This allows a year-by-year insight into the vegetation
changes at the station, and it's recovery from a badly over-grazed
state. The original photos (taken in the 20s and 30s) can be seen on the
left (or top), some of the more recent ones on the right (or bottom).
The changes are astounding.
Livestock and rabbits had completely denuded the soils in the early photos, but now the understory is coming back strongly.
How
did they get this to happen? Simple. Fencing the former sheep station
to exclude livestock, and beginning rabbit control programs. Larger
native grazers, such as kangaroos, can still enter and exit the reserve,
but livestock are excluded. Unfortunately rabbits are still present,
but are now in much lower nubers than they used to be (rabbit population
is indicated on individual photos by the rabbit symbol in the bottom
right corner).
This project is unique and very valuable for
understanding vegetation shifts in arid Australia. It is the longest
running monitoring program of it's type in Australia (by quite a long
way) and one of the oldest and longest-running in the world.
If there
was ever a way of showing people we really can make a difference by
taking some simple and relatively inexpensive steps (eg fencing and
careful stock management), then this is it.
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACU9KCWEV6g&feature=player_embedded
