Long Term Vegetation and Faunal Sucession in an Artificial Northern California Vernal Pool System

摘要

We evaluated 3 sets of artificial vernal pools located on Travis AFB in Solano County CA. Research was done to determine if artificial vernal pools constructed at Travis AFB in 1993 maintained vernal pool characteristics and to determine if any of the five treatments used to develop the artificial pools are useful for mitigating vernal pool impacts. The artificial vernal pools support a diverse plant population, but lack the biodiversity of natural pools. The vegetation of artificial pools are dependent on the design of the pool. The depth of the artificial pools allows a longer inundation period than the surrounding natural pools. Plant species associated with longer inundation period (spergula arvensis) are benefiting from the design. The steep sides of the artificial pools lack vegetation and give an unnatural appearance. Vacuuming in terms of native and non-native coverage outperformed the other treatments. The block treatment is not successful; there was limited growth of plants between block treatments within the artificial pools.