CLIMB project: vernal pools

For their collaborative project, the 2006-2007 CLIMB cohort elected to study vernal pool ecosystems.

Why vernal pools?

Vernal pools are ephemeral wetlands that harbor an astonishing array of plants and animals. Vernal pools once were widespread throughout much of California, but because of agricultural expansion and development, only a small fraction remain.

Many vernal pool organisms are specialists found in no other habitats. They must be able to survive the harsh conditions in pools: complete inundation in the winter, gradual drying throughout the spring, and hot summers with no soil moisture. Further, they face challenges in the dispersal processes, both in space and time, that allow them to spread from one pool to another and the population to survive a bad year.

Vernal pools exemplify problems at the cutting edge of ecological theory: the structure and function of metapopulations, and the science and practice of restoration. Over spring and summer 2007, CLIMB students will model the dynamics of vernal pools.

Population Ecology in Vernal Pool Systems: Implications for Management and Restoration
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Plant and Environmental Sciences 3001, UC Davis

    California vernal pools are rapidly disappearing on both local and regional scales. Vernal pool ecosystems contain a large number of endemic species, many of which are rapidly declining. Potential sources of this decline include habitat loss and fragmentation. The species that inhabit vernal pools exhibit complicated population dynamics, yet quantitative analysis of this population loss has hardly been done on vernal pool systems.

    This one day workshop, sponsored by the National Science Foundation's UMB program and hosted by the 2006-2007 CLIMB cohort, will focus on theoretical and empirical studies of the spatial and temporal dynamics of plants and animals that live in California vernal pools. The aim is to assess the state of the art in modeling approaches and empirical studies of vernal pools as a means of improving the management and restoration of these threatened ecosystems.

    For more information, please contact Carole Hom, clhom at ucdavis dot edu or see the symposium website

In April 2007, we took two field trips to visit vernal pool sites in northern California: