Ecology of Southern California Vernal Pools: A Community Profile

摘要

Vernal pools are shallow temporary bodies of water that form in winter and spring in the Mediterranean climate region of the Pacific coast. They occur in a diversity of natural settings, often in association with mounded topography. The origin of the mounded topography is still controversial. The short duration of pools and the extreme variation from standing water to severe drought favor a unique fauna and flora. The organisms of vernal pools have special life history features that fit them to this environment. Some of the plants and many of the animals have cosmopolitan distribution, and are found in temporary wetlands at widely scattered locations. Vernal pools have disappeared at an increasing rate over the past 100 years; because of this, several plant taxa associated with them are listed as rare and endangered by the Federal Government and the State of California.