Monitoring vegetation change over 30 years: lessons from an urban bushland reserve in Sydney

摘要

For the successful long-term management of biodiversity in conservation reserves, science and management need to work together. In 2008 we resampled two transects in a small urban reserve in northern Sydney under long-term conservation management. The transects were established in 1976 and recorded again in 1987 and 1998 (by other workers). We looked at plant species changes by growthforms, family (Fabaceae) and conservation-significance. Over the 30-year period the structure of the understorey has changed markedly, and despite ongoing weeding programs, the frequency of species identified as significant for conservation has continued to decrease. Despite periodic recommendations for ecological burning since 1987, supported by the monitoring data, this has not been attempted. We discuss the lessons for ecology, monitoring and management evident in this long-term monitoring study.